LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 
Deceived      jAN     4     1993 


Accessions  A/o.l£3"3^?    .  Class  No. 


THE 


SEVEN    LAWS 


OF 


TEACHING. 


BY 


JOHN  M.  GREGORY,  LL.D., 

Ex'Commissioner  of  the  Civil  Service  of  the  United  States,  and  Ex-Presi 
dent  of  the  State  University  of  Illinois. 


BOSTON  : 

Congregational  ^unoag^cfjool  ano  -^tifcltsfjtng  Sonets, 

CONGREGATIONAL  HOUSE,  BEACON  STREET. 


Copyrighted,  1886, 
BY  JOHN  M.  GREGORV. 


E2ectrotyped  and  Printed  by  Stanley  &>  Usher, 
171  Devonshire  Street. 


"  Train  up  a  child  in  the  way  he  should  go :  and  when  he  is  old  he 
will  not  depart  from  it." — Bible. 

"  Why  is  it  that  we,  the  elder,  are  spared  to  the  world,  except  to  train 
up  and  instruct  the  young?  It  is  impossible  that  the  gay  little  folks 
should  guide  and  teach  themselves,  and  accordingly  God  has  committed 
to  us  who  are  old  and  experienced  the  knowledge  which  is  needful  for 
them,  and  he  will  require  of  us  a  strict  account  of  what  we  have  done 
with  it."  —  Martin  Luther. 

"Faith  in  God  is  the  source  of  peace  in  life;  peace  in  life  is  the 
source  of  inward  order;  inward  order  is  the  source  of  the  unerring 
application  of  our  powers,  and  this  again  is  the  source  of  the  growth  of 
those  powers,  and  of  their  training  in  wisdom ;  wisdom  is  the  spring 
of  all  human  blessings." — Pestalozzi. 

"  If  you  follow  nature,  the  education  you  give  will  succeed  without 
giving  you  trouble  and  perplexity ;  especially  if  you  do  not  insist  upon 
acquirements  precocious  or  over-extensive." — Plato. 

"  It  should  not  be  claimed  that  there  is  no  art  or  science  of  training 
up  to  virtue.  Remember  how  absurd  it  would  be  to  believe  that  even 
the  most  trifling  employment  has  its  rules  and  methods,  and  at  the  same 
time,  that  the  highest  of  all  departments  of  human  effort — virtue — can 
be  mastered  without  instruction  and  practice  1 " —  Cicero* 


CONTENTS. 


i. 

THE  LAWS  OF  TEACHING 


II. 
THE  LAW  OF  THE  TEACHER 15 

in. 
THE  LAW  OF  THE  LEARNER 28 

IV. 

THE  LAW  OF  THE  LANGUAGE .      48 

v. 
THE  LAW  OF  THE  LESSON 65 

VI. 

THE  LAW  OF  THE  TEACHING  PROCESS 81 

VII. 

THE  LAW  OF  THE  LEARNING  PROCESS 104 

VIII. 
THE  LAW  OF  REVIEW  118 


INTRODUCTION. 


LET  us,  like  the  Master,  place  a  little  child  in  our  midst. 
Let  us  carefully  observe  this  child  that  we  may  learn  from  it 
what  education  is ;  for  education,  in  its  broadest  meaning, 
embraces  all  the  steps  and  processes  by  which  an  infant  is 
gradually  transformed  into  a  full  grown  and  intelligent  man. 

Let  us  take  account  of  the  child  as  it  is.  It  has  a  complete 
human  body,  with  eyes,  hands,  and  feet,  —  all  the  organs  of 
sense,  of  action  and  of  locomotion,  — and  yet  it  lies  helpless 
in  its  cradle.  It  laughs,  cries,  feels,  and  seems  to  perceive, 
remember,  and  will.  It  has  all  the  faculties  of  the  human 
being,  but  is  without  power  to  use  them  save  in  a  merely 
animal  way. 

In  what  does  this  infant  differ  from  a  man?  Simply  in  being 
a  child.  Its  body  and  limbs  are  small,  weak,  and  without 
voluntary  use.  Its  feet  can  not  walk.  Its  hands  have  no 
skill.  Its  lips  can  not  speak.  Its  eyes  see  without  per- 
ceiving ;  its  ears  hear  without  understanding.  The  universe 
into  which  it  has  come  lies  around  it  wholly  unseen  and 
unknown. 

As  we  more  carefully  study  all  this,  two  chief  facts  become 
clear :  First,  this  child  is  but  a  germ  —  it  has  not  its  destined 
growth.  Second,  it  is  ignorant  —  without  acquired  ideas. 

On  these  two  facts  rest  the  two  notions  of  education. 
(i)  The  development  of  powers.  (2)  The  acquisition  of 
knowledge.  The  first  is  an  unfolding  of  the  faculties  of  body 
and  mind  to  full  growth  and  strength;  the  second  is  the 
furnishing  of  the  mind  with  the  knowledge  of  things  —  of 
the  facts  and  truths  known  to  the  human  intelligence. 


vi  Introduction. 

Each  of  these  two  facts  —  the  child's  immaturity  and  its 
ignorance  —  might  serve  as  a  basis  for  a  science  of  educa- 
tion. The  first  would  include  a  study  of  the  faculties  and 
powers  of  the  human  being,  their  order  of  development  and 
their  laws  of  growth  and  action.  The  second  would  involve 
a  study  of  the  various  branches  of  knowledge  and  arts  with 
their  relations  to  the  faculties  by  which  they  are  discovered, 
developed,  and  perfected.  Each  of  these  sciences  would 
necessarily  draw  into  sight  and  involve  the  other ;  just  as  a 
study  of  powers  involves  a  knowledge  of  their  products,  and 
as  a  study  of  effects  includes  a  survey  of  causes. 

Corresponding  to  these  two  forms  of  educational  science, 
we  find  two  branches  of  the  art  of  education.  The  one  is 
the  art  of  training]  the  other  the  art  of  teaching.  Training 
is  the  systematic  development  and  cultivation  of  the  powers 
of  mind  and  body.  Teaching  is  the  systematic  inculcation  of 
knowledge. 

As  the  child  is  immature  in  all  its  powers,  it  is  the  first 
business  of  education,  as  an  art,  to  cultivate  those  powers,  by 
giving  to  each  power  regular  exercise  in  its  own  proper 
sphere,  till,  through  exercise  and  growth,  they  come  to  their 
full  strength  and  skill.  This  training  may  be  physical,  mental, 
or  moral,  according  to  the  powers  trained,  or  the  field  of  their 
application. 

As  the  child  is  ignorant,  it  is  equally  the  business  of  educa- 
tion to  communicate  knowledge.  This  is  properly  the  work 
of  teaching.  But  as  it  is  not  expected  that  the  child  shall 
acquire  at  school  all  the  knowledge  he  will  need,  nor  that  he 
will  cease  to  learn  when  school  instruction  ceases,  the  first 
object  of  teaching  is  to  communicate  such  knowledge  as  may 
be  useful  in  gaining  other  knowledge,  to  stimulate  in  the  pupil 
the  love  of  learning,  and  to  form  in  him  the  habits  of 
independent  study. 

These  two,  the  cultivation  of  the  powers  and  the  com- 
munication of  knowledge,  together  make  up  the  teacher's 
work.  All  organizing  and  governing  are  subsidiary  to  this 


Introduction.  vii 

twofold  aim.  The  result  to  be  sought  is  a  full  grown  physi- 
cal, intellectual,  and  moral  manhood,  with  such  intelligence 
as  is  necessary  to  make  life  useful  and  happy,  and  as  will  fit 
the  soul  to  go  on  learning  from  all  the  scenes  of  life  and  from 
all  the  available  sources  of  knowledge. 

These  two  great  branches  of  educational  art,  —  training  and 
teaching,  —  though  separable  in  thought,  are  not  separable  in 
practice.  We  can  only  train  by  teaching,  and  we  teach  best 
when  we  train  best.  Training  implies  the  exercise  of  the 
powers  to  be  trained ;  but  the  proper  exercise  of  the  intellect- 
ual powers  is  found  in  the  acquisition,  the  elaboration,  and 
the  application  of  knowledge. 

There  is,  however,  a  practical  advantage  in  keeping  these 
two  processes  of  education  distinct  before  the  mind.  The 
teacher  with  these  clearly  in  view  will  watch  more  easily 
and  estimate  more  intelligently  the  real  progress  of  his  pupils. 
He  will  not,  on  the  one  side,  be  content  with  a  dry  daily 
drill  which  keeps  his  pupils  at  work  as  in  a  tread-mill,  without 
any  sound  and  substantial  advance  in  knowledge  ;  nor  will  he, 
on  the  other  side,  be  satisfied  with  cramming  the  memory 
with  useless  facts  or  empty  names,  without  any  increase  of  the 
powers  of  thought  and  understanding.  He  will  carefully  note 
both  sides  of  his  pupils'  education  —  the  increase  of  power 
and  the  advance  in  knowledge  —  and  will  direct  his  labors 
and  select  the  lessons  with  a  wise  and  skillful  adaptation  to 
secure  both  of  the  ends  in  view. 

This  statement  of  the  two  sides  of  the  science  and  art  of 
education  brings  us  to  the  point  of  view  from  which  may  be 
clearly  seen  the  real  aim  of  this  little  volume.  That  aim  is 
stated  in  its  title  —  THE  SEVEN  LAWS  OF  TEACHING.  Its 
object  is  to  set  forth,  in  a  certain  systematic  order,  the 
principles  of  the  art  of  teaching.  Incidentally  it  brings  into 
view  the  mental  faculties  and  their  order  of  growth.  But  it 
deals  with  these  only  as  they  need  to  be  considered  in  a  clear 
discussion  of  the  work  of  acquiring  knowledge. 


viii  Introduction. 

As  the  most  obvious  work  of  the  school-room  is  that  of 
learning  lessons  from  the  various  branches  of  knowledge,  so 
the  work  of  teaching  —  the  work  of  assigning,  explaining, 
and  hearing  these  lessons  —  is  that  which  chiefly  occupies 
the  time  and  attention  of  the  school-master  or  instructor. 
To  explain  the  laws  of  teaching  will,  therefore,  seem  the 
most  direct  and  practical  way  to  instruct  teachers  in  their  art. 
It  presents  at  once  the  clearest  and  most  practical  view  of 
their  duties,  and  of  the  methods  by  which  they  may  win 
success  in  their  work.  Having  learned  the  laws  of  teaching, 
the  teacher  will  easily  master  the  philosophy  of  training. 

The  author  does  not  claim  to  have  expounded  the  whole 
Science  of  Education,  nor  to  have  set  forth  even  the  whole 
Art  of  Teaching.  This  would  require  a  systematic  study  of 
each  mental  faculty,  and  of  the  relation  of  each  to  every 
branch  of  knowledge,  both  of  sciences  and  arts.  But  if  he 
has  succeeded  in  grouping  around  the  Seven  Factors,  which 
are  present  in  every  act  of  true  teaching,  the  leading  princi- 
ples and  rules  of  the  teaching  art,  so  that  they  can  be  seen 
in  their  natural  order  and  connections,  and  can  be  methodi- 
cally learned  and  used,  he  has  done  what  he  wished  to  do. 
He  leaves  his  offering  on  the  altar  of  service  to  God  and  his 
fellow-men. 


THE  SEVEN  LAWS  OF  TEACHING. 


CHAPTER  I. 
THE    LAWS    OF   TEACHING. 

1.  Teaching    has    its    natural    laws    as   fixed 
as  the  laws  of   circling   planets    or    of    growing 
organisms.       Teaching    is    a    process    in    which 
definite  forces  are  employed  to   produce   definite 
effects,  and  these   effects   follow   their   causes   as 
regularly  and   certainly  as   the   day  follows    the 
sun.     What   the   teacher   does,  he   does   through 
natural  agencies  working  out  their  natural  effects. 
Causation   is    as    certain,  if    not  always  as  clear, 
in  the   movements    of    mind    as    in   the    motions 
of   matter.      The  mind  has  its  laws  of    thought, 
feeling,    and   volition,   and   these   laws    are    none 
the  less  fixed  that  they  are  spiritual  rather  than 
material. 

2.  To    discover    the    laws    of     any   process, 
whether   mental   or   material,   makes    it    possible 
to  bring  that  process  under  the  control  of  him  who 
knows  the  law  and  can  command  the  conditions. 
He   who   has   learned   the   laws    of    the    electric 
currents  may  send  messages  through  the   ocean ; 


2  The  Seven  Laws  of  Teaching. 

and  he  who  has  mastered  the  chemistry  of  the 
sunbeam  may  make  it  paint  him  portraits  and 
landscapes.  So  he  that  masters  the  laws  of 
teaching  may  send  knowledge  into  the  depths 
of  the  soul,  and  may  impress  upon  the  mind 
the  images  of  immortal  truth.  He  who  would 
gain  harvests  must  obey  nature's  laws  for  the 
growing  corn;  and  he  who  would  teach  a  child 
successfully  must  follow  the  laws  of  teaching, 
which  are  also  laws  of  the  mental  nature. 
Nowhere,  in  the  world  of  mind  or  in  the  world 
of  matter,  can  man  produce  any  effects  except 
as  he  employs  the  means  on  which  those  effects 
depend.  He  is  powerless  to  command  nature's 
forces  except  as,  by  design  or  by  chance,  he 
obeys  nature's  laws. 

What  is  Teaching? 

3.  Teaching,  in  its  simplest  sense,  is  the 
communication  of  knowledge.  This  knowledge 
may  be  a  fact,  a  truth,  a  doctrine  of  religion, 
a  precept  of  morals,  a  story  of  life,  or  the 
processes  of  an  art.  It  may  be  taught  by  the 
use  of  words,  by  signs,  by  objects,  by  actions, 
or  examples ;  and  the  teaching  may  have  for 
its  object  instruction  or  impression  —  the  training 
of  mind,  the  increase  of  intelligence,  the  im- 
plantation of  principles,  or  the  formation  of 
character ;  but  whatever  the  substance,  the  mode, 
or  the  aim  of  the  teaching,  the  act  itself,  funda- 


The  Laws  of  Teaching.  3 

mentally  considered,  is  always  substantially  the 
same :  it  is  a  communication  of  knowledge.  It 
is  the  painting  in  another's  mind  the  mental 
picture  in  one's  own  —  the  shaping  of  a  pupil's 
thought  and  understanding  to  the  comprehension 
of  some  truth  which  the  teacher  knows  and 
wishes  to  communicate.  Further  on  we  shall 
see  that  the  word  communication  is  used  here, 
not  in  the  sense  of  the  transmission  of  a  mental 
something  from  one  person  to  another,  but  rather 
in  the  sense  of  helping  another  to  reproduce 
the  same  knowledge,  and  thus  to  make  it  common 
to  the  two. 

The  Seven  Factors. 

4.  To  discover  the  law   of    any  phenomenon, 
we  must  subject  that  phenomenon  to  a  scientific 
analysis   and   study  its   separate   parts.       If    any 
complete  act  of   teaching  be  so  analyzed,  it    will 
be   found   to    contain   seven  distinct  elements  or 
factors:  (i)  two  actors  —  a  teacher  and  a  learner; 
(2)   two  mental   factors  —  a  common  language  or 
medium  of  communication,  and  a  lesson  or  truth  to 
be  communicated  ;   and  (3)  three  functional   acts 
or  processes  —  that  of    the   teacher,  that   of    the 
learner,  and  a  final   or   finishing  process   to   test 
and  fix  the  result. 

5.  These  are  essential  parts  of  every  full  and 
complete  act  of  teaching.      Whether  the  lesson  be 
a  single  fact   told  in  three  minutes  or  a  lecture 


4  The  Seven  Laws  of  Teaching. 

occupying  as  many  hours,  the  seven  factors  are 
all  there,  if  the  work  is  entire.  None  of  them 
can  be  omitted,  and  no  other  need  be  added.  No 
full  account  of  the  philosophy  of  teaching  can  be 
given  which  does  not  include  them  all,  and  if 
there  is  any  true  science  of  teaching,  it  must  lie 
in  the  laws  and  relations  of  these  seven  elements 
and  facts.  No  true  or  successful  art  of  teaching 
can  be  found  or  contrived  which  is  not  based  upon 
these  factors  and  their  laws. 

6.  To   discover   their    laws,   let    these    seven 
factors    be   passed   again    in   careful    review   and 
enumeration,  as  follows  :  (i)  a  teacher ;  (2)  a  learner ; 
(3)  a  common  language  or  medium  of  communica- 
tion ;  (4)  a  lesson  or  truth  ;  (5)  the  teacher's  work  ; 
(6)  the  learner's  work  ;  (7)  the  review  work,  which 
ascertains,   perfects,   and  fastens  the  work   done. 
Is  it  not  obvious  that   each  of  these  seven  must 
have  its  own  distinct  characteristic,  which  makes  it 
what  it  is  ?     Each  stands  distinguished  from  the 
others,  and  from  all  others,  by  this  essential  char- 
acteristic, and  each  enters  and  plays  its  part  in  the 
scene  by  virtue  of  its  own  character  and  function. 
Each  is  a  distinct  entity  or  fact   of  nature.     And 
as  every  fact  of  nature  is  the  product  and  proof 
of   some    law   of    nature,    so    each    element   here 
described   has  its  own  great  law  of   function    or 
action,  and  these   taken    together   constitute   the 
SEVEN  LAWS  OF  TEACHING. 

7.  It  may  seem  trivial  to  so  insist  upon   all 


The  Laws  of  Teaching.  5 

this.  Some  will  say  :  "  Of  course  there  can  be  no 
teaching  without  a  teacher  and  a  pupil,  without  a 
language  and  a  lesson,  and  without  the  teacher 
teaches  and  the  learner  learns  ;  or,  finally,  without 
a  proper  review,  if  any  assurance  is  to  be  gained 
that  the  work  has  been  successful  and  the  result 
is  to  be  made  permanent.  All  this  is  too  obvious 
to  need  assertion."  So  also  is  it  obvious  that 
when  seeds,  soil,  heat,  light,  and  moisture  come 
together  in  proper  measure,  plants  are  produced 
and  grow  to  the  harvest ;  but  the  simplicity  of 
these  common  facts  does  not  prevent  their  hiding 
among  them  some  of  the  profoundest  and  most 
mysterious  laws  of  nature.  So,  too,  a  simple  act 
of  teaching  hides  within  it  some  of  the  most 
potent  and  significant  laws  of  mental  life  and 
action. 

The  Laws  Stated. 

8.  These  laws  are  not  obscure  and  hard  to 
reach.  They  are  so  simple  and  natural  that  they 
suggest  themselves  almost  spontaneously  to  any 
one  who  carefully  notes  the  facts.  They  lie 
imbedded  in  the  simplest  description  that  can  be 
given  of  the  seven  elements  named,  as  in  the 
following  :  — 

(1)  A   teacher  must    be    one    who    KNOWS    the 
lesson  or  truth  to  be  taught. 

(2)  A  learner  is  one  who  ATTENDS  with  interest 
to  the  lesson  given. 


6  The  Seven  Laws  of  Teaching. 

(3)  The  language  used  as  a  MEDIUM   between 
teacher  and  learner  must  be  COMMON  to  both. 

(4)  The  lesson  to  be  learned  must  be  explicable 
in   the   terms    of    truth    already   known    by   the 
learner  —  the    UNKNOWN    must   be   explained   by 
the  KNOWN. 

(5)  Teaching  is  AROUSING  and  USING  the  pupil's 
mind  to  form  in  it  a  desired  conception  or  thought. 

(6)  Learning  is  THINKING  into  one's  own  UNDER- 
STANDING a  new  idea  or  truth. 

(7)  The  test  and  proof  of  teaching  done  —  the 
finishing    and    fastening    process  —  must     be     a 

RE-VIEWING,    RE-THINKING,     RE-KNOWING,     and     RE- 
PRODUCING of  the  knowledge  taught. 

The  Laws  Stated  as  Rules. 

9.  These  definitions  and  statements  are  so 
simple  and  obvious  as  to  need  no  argument  or 
proof  ;  but  their  force  as  fundamental  laws  may  be 
more  clearly  seen  if  stated  as  rules  for  teaching. 
Addressed  to  the  teacher,  they  may  read  as 
follows  :  — 

I.  Know  thoroughly  and  familiarly  the  lesson 
you  wish  to  teach  ;  or,  in  other  words,  teach  from 
a  full  mind  and  a  clear  understanding. 

II.  Gain  and  keep  the  attention  and   interest 
of  the  pupils  upon  the  lesson.       Refuse  to  teach 
without  attention. 

III.  Use   words   understood   by  both  teacher 
and    pupil   in   the   same   sense  —  language   clear 
and  vivid  alike  to  both. 


The  Laws  of  Teaching.  7 

IV.  Begin  with  what  is  already  well  known  to 
the  pupil  in  the  lesson  or  upon  the  subject,  and 
proceed   to   the    unknown    by   single,    easy,    and 
natural    steps,    letting    the    known    explain    the 
unknown. 

V.  Use  the  pupil's  own  mind,  exciting  his  self- 
activities.     Keep  his  thoughts  as  much  as  possible 
ahead  of  your  expression,  making  him  a  discoverer 
of  truth. 

VI.  Require  the  pupil  to  reproduce  in  thought 
the  lesson  he  is  learning  —  thinking  it   out  in  its 
parts,  proofs,  connections,  and  applications  till  he 
can  express  it  in  his  own  language. 

VII.  Review,  review,  REVIEW,  reproducing  cor- 
rectly the  old,  deepening  its  impression  with  new 
thought,  correcting   false   views,    and   completing 
the  true. 

Essentials  of  Successful  Teaching. 

10.  These  rules,  and  the  laws  which  they  cut- 
line  and  presuppose,  underlie  and  govern  all  suc- 
cessful teaching.  If  taken  in  their  broadest 
meaning,  nothing  need  be  added  to  them  ;  nothing 
can  be  safely  taken  away.  No  one  who  will 
thoroughly  master  and  use  them  need  fail  as  a 
teacher,  provided  he  will  also  maintain  the  good 
order  which  is  necessary  to  give  them  free  and 
undisturbed  action.  Disorder,  noise,  and  con- 
fusion may  hinder  and  prevent  the  results  desired, 
just  as  the  constant  disturbance  of  some  chemical 


8  The  Seven  Laws  of  Teaching. 

elements  forbids  the  formation  of  the  compounds 
which  the  laws  of  chemistry  would  otherwise 
produce.  Good  order  is  a  condition  precedent  to 
good  teaching. 

11.  Like  all  the  great  laws  of   nature,   these 
laws  of  teaching  will  seem    at   first    simple   facts, 
so   obvious    as    scarcely   to    require    such    formal 
statement,  and  so  plain  that  no  explanation  can 
make  clearer  their  meaning.     But,  like  all  funda- 
mental truths,  their  simplicity  is   more  apparent 
than  real.     Each  law  varies  in  applications  and 
effects  with  varying  minds  and  persons,   though 
remaining   constant    in    itself ;    and   each    stands 
related  to  other  laws  and  facts,  in  long  and  wide 
successions,  till  it  reaches  the  outermost  limits  of 
the   science   of    teaching.     Indeed,    in   a    careful 
study  of  these  seven  laws,  to  which  we  shall  pro- 
ceed in  coming  chapters,  the  discussion  will  reach 
every  valuable  principle  in  education,  and    every 
practical  rule  which  can  be  of  use  in  the  teacher's 
work. 

12.  They  cover  all  teaching  of  all  subjects  and 
in  all  grades,  since  they  are  the  fundamental  con- 
ditions on  which  ideas  may  be  made  to  pass  from 
one  mind  to  another,  or  on  which  the  unknown 
can  become  known.     They  are  as  valid  and  use- 
ful for  the  college  professor  as  for  the  master  of  a 
common  school ;  for  the  teaching  of  a  Bible  truth 
as  for  instruction  in  arithmetic.     In  proportion  as 
the  truth  to  be  communicated  is  high  and  difficult 


The  Laws  of  Teaching.  9 

to  be  understood,  or  as  the  pupils  to  be  instructed 
are  young  and  ignorant,  ought  they  to  be  carefully 
followed. 

13.  Doubtless     there     are     many     successful 
teachers  who  never  heard  of  these  laws,  and  who 
do  not  consciously  follow  them  ;  just  as  there  are 
people    who   walk  safely  without  any  theoretical 
knowledge   of    gravitation,    and    talk    intelligibly 
without    studying   grammar.     Like   the   musician 
who  plays  by  ear,  and  without  knowledge  of  notes, 
these  "  natural  teachers,"  as  they  are  called,  have 
learned  the  laws  of  teaching  from  practice,   and 
obey  them  from  habit.     It  is  none  the  less  true 
that   their  success  comes  from  obeying  law,  and 
not  in  spite  of  laws.     They  catch  by  intuition  the 
secret  of    success,   and  do  by  a  sort  of    instinct 
what  others  do  by  rule  and  reflection.     A  careful 
study  of  their  methods  would  show  how  closely 
they  follow  these  principles ;  and  if  there  is  any 
exception  it  is  in  the  cases  in  which  their  wonder- 
ful practical  mastery  of  some  of  the  rules  —  usually 
the  first  three  —  allows  them  to  give  slighter  heed 
to  the  others.     To  those  who  do  not  belong  to  this 
class  of  "  natural  teachers,"  the  knowledge  of  these 
laws  is  of  vital  necessity. 

Skill  and  Enthusiasm. 

14.  Let  no  one  fear  that  a  study  of  the  laws  of 
teaching  will  tend  to  substitute  a  cold,  mechanical 
sort   of  work  for   the  warm-hearted,    enthusiastic 


IO  The  Seven  Laws  of  Teaching. 

teaching  so  often  admired  and  praised.  True  skill 
kindles  and  keeps  alive  enthusiasm  by  giving  it 
success  where  it  would  otherwise  be  discouraged 
by  defeat.  The  true  worker's  love  for  his  work 
grows  with  his  ability  to  do  it  well.  Even  enthu- 
siasm will  accomplish  more  when  guided  by  intel- 
ligence and  armed  with  skill,  while  the  many  who 
lack  the  rare  gift  of  an  enthusiastic  nature  must 
work  by  rule  and  skill  or  fail  altogether. 

15.  Unreflecting  superintendents  and  school- 
boards  often  prefer  enthusiastic  teachers  to  those 
who  are  simply  well  educated  or  experienced. 
They  count,  not  untruly,  that  enthusiasm  will  ac- 
complish more  with  poor  learning  and  little  skill 
than  the  best  trained  and  most  erudite  teacher 
who  has  no  heart  in  his  work,  and  who  goes 
through  his  task  without  zeal  for  progress  and 
without  care  for  results.  But  why  choose  either 
the  ignorant  enthusiast  or  the  educated  sluggard  ? 
Enthusiasm  is  not  confined  to  the  unskilled  and 
the  ignorant,  nor  are  all  calm,  cool  men  idlers. 
Conscience  and  the  strong  sense  of  right  and  duty 
often  exist  where  the  glow  of  enthusiasm  is  un- 
known or  has  passed  away.  And  there  is  an 
enthusiasm  born  of  skill  —  a  joy  in  doing  what 
one  can  do  well  —  that  is  far  more  effective,  where 
art  is  involved,  than  the  enthusiasm  born  of  vivid 
feeling.  The  steady  advance  of  veterans  is  far 
more  powerful  than  the  mad  rush  of  raw  recruits. 
The  world's  best  work,  in  the  schools  as  in  the 


The  Laws  of  Teaching.  1 1 

shops,  is  done  by  the  calm,  steady,  persistent 
efforts  of  skilled  workmen  who  know  how  to  keep 
their  tools  sharp,  and  to  make  every  effort  reach  its 
mark.  No  teacher  perhaps  ever  excelled  Pestalozzi 
in  enthusiasm,  and  few  have  ever  personally  done 
poorer  work. 

16.  But  the  most  serious  objection  to  systematic 
teaching,  based  on  the  laws  of  teaching,  comes 
from  Sunday-school  men,  pastors  and  others,  who 
assume  that  the  principal  aim  of  the  Sunday-school 
is  to  impress  and  convert  rather  than  to  instruct ; 
and  that  skilful  teaching,  if  desirable  at  all,  is  much 
less  important  than  warm  appeals  to  the  feelings 
and  earnest  exhortations  to  the  conscience.  No 
one  denies  the  value  of  such  appeals  and  exhorta- 
tions, nor  the  duty  of  teachers,  in  both  day-schools 
and  Sunday-schools,  to  make  them  on  all  fit  oppor- 
tunities. But  what  is  to  be  the  basis  of  the  Sunday 
teacher's  appeals,  if  not  the  truths  of  Scripture  ? 
What  religious  exhortation  will  come  home  with 
such  abiding  power  as  that  which  enters  the  mind 
with  some  clear  Bible  truth,  some  unmistakable 
"Thus  saith  the  Lord,"  in  its  front?  What 
preacher  wins  more  souls  than  Moody  with  his 
open  Bible  ever  in  hand?  What  better  rule  for 
teacher  or  pupil  than  the  Master's  "  Search  the 
Scriptures "  ?  What  finer  example  than  that  of 
Paul  who  " reasoned"  with  both  prejudiced  Jews 
and  caviling  Greeks  "  out  of  the  Scriptures "  ? 
If  the  choice  must  be  between  the  warm-hearted 


12  The  Seven  Laws  of  Teaching. 

teacher  who  simply  gushes  appeals,  and  the  cold- 
hearted  who  stifles  all  feeling  by  his  icy  indifference, 
give  me  the  former  by  all  odds ;  but  why  either  ? 
Is  there  no  healthful  mean  between  steam  and  ice 
for  the  water  of  life  ?  Will  the  teacher  whose 
own  mind  glows  with  the  splendid  light  of  divine 
truths,  and  who  skillfully  leads  his  pupils  to  a  clear 
vision  of  the  same  truths,  fail  in  inspirational 
power?  Is  not  the  divine  truth  itself  —  the  very 
Word  of  God  —  to  be  credited  with  any  power  to 
arouse  the  conscience  and  convert  the  soul  ? 

17.  These  questions  may  be  left  to  call  forth 
their  own  inevitable  answers.     They  will  have  met 
their  full  purpose  if  they  repel  this  disposition  to 
discredit  the  need  of  true  teaching-work,  in  Sun- 
day-schools as  well  as  in  common  schools ;  and  if 
they  convince  Sunday-school  leaders  that  the  great 
natural  laws  of  teaching  are  God's  own  laws  of 
mind,    which    must    be  followed   as   faithfully    in 
learning  his  Word  as  in  studying  his  works. 

A  'Word  to  Teachers. 

1 8.  Leaving  to  other  chapters  the  full  discussion 
of  the   meaning  and   philosophy   of   these   seven 
laws,  we  only  add   here   the    exhortation   to   the 
teacher,     and    especially    to    the     Sunday-school 
teacher,  to  give  them  the  most  serious  attention. 
Sitting  before  your  class  of  veiled  immortals,  how 
often  have  you  craved  the  power  to  look  into  the 
depths  of  those  young  souls,  and  to  plant  there 


The  Laws  of  Teaching.  1 3 

with  sure  hand  some  truth  of  science  or  some 
grand  and  life-giving  belief  of  the  gospel  ?  How 
often  have  you  tried  your  utmost,  by  all  the  meth- 
ods you  could  devise,  to  direct  their  minds  to  the 
deep  truths  and  facts  of  the  Bible  lesson,  and 
turned  away,  almost  in  despair,  to  find  how  power- 
less you  were  to  command  the  mental  movement 
and  to  secure  the  spiritual  result?  No  key  will 
ever  open  to  you  the  doors  of  those  chambers  in 
which  live  your  pupils'  souls ;  no  glass  will  ever 
enable  you  to  penetrate  their  mysterious  gloom. 
But  in  the  great  laws  of  your  common  nature  lie 
the  electric  lines  by  which  you  may  send  into  each 
little  mind  the  thought  fresh  from  your  own,  and 
awaken  the  young  heart  to  receive  and  embrace  it. 
He  who  made  us  all  of  kindred  nature  settled  the 
spiritual  laws  by  which  our  minds  must  communi- 
cate, and  made  possible  that  art  of  arts  which 
passes  thought  and  truth  from  soul  to  soul. 

19.  Remark.  In  the  discussion  of  these  laws 
there  will  necessarily  occur  some  seeming  repeti- 
tions. They  are  like  seven  hill-tops  of  different 
height  scattered  over  a  common  territory.  As  we 
climb  each  in  succession,  many  points  in  the  land- 
scapes seen  from  their  summits  will  be  found 
included  in  different  views,  but  it  will  be  always  in 
a  new  light  and  with  a  fresh  horizon.  The  truth 
that  is  common  to  two  or  more  of  these  laws  will 
be  found  a  mere  repetition.  New  groupings  will 
show  new  relations  and  bring  to  light  for  the  care- 


14  The  Seven  Laws  of  Teaching. 

ful  student  new  aspects  and  uses.  The  repetitions 
themselves  will  not  be  useless,  as  they  will  serve  to 
emphasize  the  most  important  features  of  the  art 
of  teaching,  and  will  impress  upon  the  younger 
teachers  those  principles  which  demand  the  most 
frequent  attention. 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE  LAW  OF  THE  TEACHER. 

i.  The  universal  reign  of  law  is  the  central 
truth  of  modern  science.  No  force  in  man  or 
nature  but  works  under  the  control  of  law;  no 
effect  in  mind  or  matter  but  is  produced  in  con- 
formity with  law.  The  simplest  notion  of  natural 
law  is  that  nature  remains  forever  uniform  in  its 
forces  and  operations.  Causes  compel  their  effects, 
and  effects  obey  their  causes,  by  irresistible  laws. 
Things  are  what  they  are  by  reason  of  the  laws  of 
their  being,  and  to  learn  the  law  of  any  fact  is  to 
learn  the  deepest  truth  we  can  know  about  it. 
This  uniformity  of  nature  is  the  basis  of  all  science 
and  of  all  practical  art.  In  mind  and  in  matter  the 
reign  of  unvarying  laws  is  the  primal  condition  of  any 
true  science.  The  mind,  indeed,  has  its  freedoms, 
but  among  these  there  is  found  no  liberty  to  produce 
effects  contrary  to  laws.  The  teacher  is  therefore 
as  much  the  subject  of  law  as  the  star  that 
shines  or  the  ship  that  sails.  Many  qualifications 
are  easily  recognized  as  important  to  the  teacher's 
position  and  work ;  and  if  all  the  requirements 
popularly  sought  for  couid  be  obtained,  the  teacher 
would  be  a  model  man  or  woman ;  perfect  in 


1 6  The  Seven  Laws  of  Teaching. 

manners,  pure  in  morals,  unerring  in  wisdom,  just 
in  judgment,  loving  in  temper,  firm  in  will,  tireless 
in  work,  conscientious  in  word  and  deed,  a  genius 
in  learning,  an  angel  in  charity,  an  incarnate 
assemblage  of  impossible  excellencies.  Certainly, 
good  character  and  rare  moral  qualities  are  desira- 
ble in  an  instructor  of  the  young,  if  not  for  his 
actual  work,  at  least  to  prevent  harm  from  his 
example ;  but  if,  one  by  one,  we  dismiss  from  our 
catalogue  of  needful  qualifications  for  the  work  of 
teaching  those  not  absolutely  indispensable,  we 
shall  find  ourselves  obliged  to  retain  at  last,  as 
necessary  to  the  very  notion  of  teaching,  a  knowl- 
edge of  the  branches  to  be  taught. 

The  Law  of  the  Teacher,  then,  —  the  law  which 
limits  and  describes  him, — is  this  :  — 

The  teacher  must  know  that  which  he  would  teach. 

Philosophy  of  the  Law. 

2.  It  seems  too  simple  for  proof  that  one  can 
not  teach  without  knowledge.  How  can  something 
come  out  of  nothing,  or  how  can  darkness  give 
light  ?  To  affirm  this  law  seems  like  declaring  a 
truism ;  but  deeper  study  shows  it  to  be  a  funda- 
mental truth  —  the  very  law  of  the  teacher's  action 
and  being  as  a  teacher.  No  other  characteristic 
or  qualification  is  so  fundamental  and  essential. 
The  law  will  reveal  a  deeper  truth  if  we  reverse 
its  terms  and  read  :  What  the  teacher  knows  he 
must  teach.  There  is  an  inborn  need  and  desire  in 


The  Law  of  the  Teacher.  17 

man  for  expression.  It  is  the  instinctive  impulse 
to  tell  in  some  way,  by  word  or  action,  our  thoughts 
and  emotions  so  soon  as  they  become  vivid  and 
intense  enough.  It  is  the  teaching  passion. 
"  While  I  was  musing  the  fires  burned  :  then  spake 
I  with  my  tongue."  Other  motives  and  impulses 
may  mingle  and  aid,  but  this  is  primary  and  funda- 
mental. The  hot  heart  —  hot  with  visions  and 
discovered  truth  —  forces  speech,  or  teaching 
which  is  better  than  speech. 
•  3.  The  word  KNOW  stands  central  in  the  law 
of  the  teacher.  Knowledge  is  the  material  with 
which  the  teacher  works,  and  the  first  reason  of 
the  law  must  be  sought  in  the  nature  of  knowl- 
edge. What  men  call  knowledge  is  of  all  degrees, 
from  the  first  dim  glimpse  of  a  fact  or  truth  to 
the  full  and  familiar  understanding  of  that  fact  or 
truth  in  all  its  parts  and  aspects  —  its  philosophy, 
its  beauty,  and  its  power,  (i)  We  may  know  a 
fact  so  faintly  as  merely  to  recognize  it  when  an- 
other tells  it ;  (2)  we  may  know  it  in  such  degree 
as  to  be  able  to  recall  it  for  ourselves,  or  to  describe 
it  in  a  general  way  to  another ;  (3)  better  still,  we 
may  so  know  it  that  we  can  readily  explain,  prove, 
and  illustrate  it ;  or  (4),  mounting  to  the  highest 
grade  of  knowledge,  we  may  so  know  and  vividly 
see  a  truth  in  its  deeper  significance  and  wider 
relations  that  its  importance,  grandeur,  or  beauty 
impresses  and  inspires  us.  History  is  history  only 
to  him  who  thus  reads  and  knows  it ;  and  Scripture 


1 8  The  Seven  Laws  of  Teaching. 

is  Holy  Writ  only  when  seen  by  this  inner  light. 
It  is  this  last  form  of  knowledge  which  must  be 
read  into  the  law  of  the  true  teacher. 

4.  It  is  not  affirmed  that  no  one  can  teach  with- 
out this  fulness  of  knowledge ;  nor  is  it  true  that 
every  one  who  knows  his  lessons  thus  thoroughly 
will  teach    successfully.     But   imperfect  knowing 
must  make  imperfect  teaching.     What  a  man  does 
not  know  he  can  not  teach,  or,  if  he  teaches,  can 
not  know  that  he  teaches.     But  the  law  of  the 
teacher  is  only  one  of  the  laws  of  teaching.     Fail- 
ure may  come  from  the  violation  of  other  condi- 
tions as  well  as  from  neglect  of  this.     So,  too, 
success  may  come  from  obedience  to  other  laws. 
A  poor,  illiterate  mother  may  so  inspire  the  ambi- 
tion of  her  boy  that  he  will  work  out  his  lessons 
from  a  book  without  a  teacher.     Many  a  teacher 
can  do  little  more  than  to  study  up  the  lesson  of 
the   day,  and   may  use  that  skillfully  to  set   his 
pupils  to  work;  but  teaching  must  be  uncertain 
and  limping  with  such  limitations  of  knowledge. 

5.  A  truth  can  be  fully  seen  only  in  the  light 
of  other  truths.    It  is  known  by  its  resemblances. 
A  fact  which  is  only  partly  known  never  reveals 
its  thousand  beautiful  analogies  to  other  facts.     It 
stands  alone,  beclouded  and  barren  —  half  fact  and 
half  phantom.     The  eye  catches  no   fine   resem- 
blances, and  the    understanding  finds  no  fruitful 
relations,   linking  it  to  the  great  body  of   truth. 
The  imagination  looks  in  vain  for  the  light  of  some 


The  Law  of  the  Teacher.  19 

rich  and  beautiful  simile  to  transfigure  the  truth 
seen  only  in  dim  outline,  or  known  only  in  shape- 
less and  imperfect  fragments.  Only  amid  facts 
vividly  seen,  and  among  truths  clearly  and  splen- 
didly conceived,  are  to  be  discovered  the  images 
of  grander  facts  and  the  shadowy  forms  of  wider 
truths.  The  power  of  illustration  —  that  chief  and 
central  power  in  the  teacher's  art  —  comes  'only 
out  of  clear  and  familiar  knowledge.  The  unknow- 
ing teacher  is  the  blind  trying  to  lead  the  blind 
with  only  an  empty  lamp  to  light  the  way. 

6.  Take  the  common  facts  taught  in  the  geog- 
raphies of  the  schools, — the  roundness  of  the 
earth,  the  extent  of  oceans  and  continents,  moun- 
tains, rivers,  and  peopled  states  and  cities,  —  how 
tame  and  slight  in  interest  as  known  to  the  half- 
taught  teacher  and  his  pupils  ;  but  how  grand  and 
imposing  as  seen  by  the  great  astronomers,  geolo- 
gists, and  geographers  —  the  Herschels,  Danas, 
and  Guyots !  To  these  appear  in  vision  the  long 
processions  of  age-filling  causes  and  revolutions 
which  have  not  only  given  shape  to  this  enormous 
globe,  but  have  peopled  the  boundless  universe 
with  countless  millions  of  similar  and  still  grander 
spheres  —  causes  which  yet  move  and  work  in  the 
ceaseless  march  of  suns  and  systems,  in  the  per- 
petual roll  of  the  earth's  revolutions,  in  the  swing 
of  tides,  the  sweep  of  winds  and  storms,  the  flow 
of  rivers,  the  slow  heave  of  the  continents,  the 
incessant  climatic  changes  and  seasons,  and  in  all 


2O  The  Seven  Laws  of  Teaching. 

the  various  births,  growths,  and  decays  of  nature 
and  mankind.  To  such  teachers  geography  is  but 
a  chapter  in  the  science  and  history  of  the  uni- 
verse, borrowing  light  and  meaning  from  all  that 
goes  before  or  follows.  So,  too,  the  great  texts, 
and  truths  of  Holy  Writ :  how  meager  in  meaning 
to  the  careless  reader  and  the  unstudious  teacher ! 
but  how  brilliant  and  burning  with  divine  fact  and 
truths  to  him  who  brings  to  its  study  the  converg- 
ing lights  of  history,  science,  and  experience  ! 

7.  But  the  law  of  the  teacher  goes  deeper  still. 
Truth  must  be  clearly  understood  before  it  can  be 
vividly  felt.  Only  the  true  scholars  in  any  science 
grow  enthusiastic  over  its  glories  and  grandeurs. 
It  is  the  clearness  of  their  mental  vision  which 
inspires  the  wonderful  eloquence  of  the  poet  and 
orator,  and  makes  them  the  born  teachers  of  their 
race.  It  was  Hugh  Miller,  the  deep-read  geologist, 
whose  trained  eye  deciphered,  and  whose  eloquent 
pen  recorded,  "  The  Testimony  of  the  Rocks." 
Kepler,  the  great  astronomer,  grew  wild  as  the 
mysteries  of  the  stars  unrolled  before  him,  and 
Agassiz  could  not  afford  time  to  lecture  for  money 
while  absorbed  in  the  deep  study  of  the  old  dead 
fishes  of  an  ancient  world.  He  must  ever  be  a 
cold  and  lifeless  teacher  who  only  half  knows  the 
lessons  he  would  teach  ;  but  he  whose  soul  has 
caught  fire  from  the  truths  which  he  carries,  glows 
with  a  contagious  enthusiasm  and  unconsciously 
inspires  his  pupils  with  his  own  deep  interest. 


The  Law  of  the  Teacher.  21 

"  Much  learning  doth  make  thee  mad,"  said  the 
half-startled  Festus,  as  Paul,  the  great  apostle,  told 
with  irrepressible  warmth  the  story  so  vivid  in  his 
remembrance,  so  fresh  in  his  feeling. 

8.  This  earnest  feeling  of  truths  clearly  and 
grandly  conceived  is  the  very  secret  of  the  earnest- 
ness and  enthusiasm  so  much  praised  and  admired 
in  teacher  and  preacher.      Even  common   truths 
become  transformed  and  grand  in  the  mind  and 
heart  of  such  a  teacher.     History  turns  to  a  living 
panorama ;  geography  swells  out  into  great  conti- 
nental stretches  of  peopled  kingdoms  ;  astronomy 
becomes  the  marshaled  march  of  shining  worlds 
and  world-systems,  and  Bible  truths  grow  sublime 
as  with  the  felt  presence  of  Deity.     How  can  the 
teacher's  manner  fail  to  be  earnest  and  inspiring 
when  his  matter  is  so  rich  with  radiant  reality  ? 

9.  While  knowledge  thus  thoroughly  and  famil- 
iarly  known   rouses   into   higher   action    all    the 
powers  of  the  teacher,  it  also  gives  him  the  unfet- 
tered command  and  use  of  those  powers.     Instead 
of  the  hurry  and  worry  of  one  who  has  to  glean 
from  the  text-book  each  moment  the  answers  to 
the  questions  he  has  asked,  he  who    knows  his 
lesson  as  he  ought  is  at  home,  on  familiar  ground, 
and  can  watch  at  ease  the  efforts  of  his  class  and 
direct  with  certainty  the  current  of  their  thoughts. 
He  is  ready  to  recognize  and  interpret  their  first 
faint  glimpses  of  the  truth,  to  remove  the  obsta- 
cles from  their  path,  and  to  aid  and   encourage. 


22  The  Seven  Laws  of  Teaching. 

their  struggling  search  by  the  skillful  hint  which 
flashes  a  half-revealing  light  into  the  too  thick 
darkness. 

10.  A  teacher's  ready  and  evident  knowledge 
helps  to  give  the  pupil  needed  confidence.  We 
follow  with  eager  expectation  and  delight  the 
guide  who  shows  thorough  knowledge  of  the  field 
we  wish  to  explore,  but  we  drag  reluctantly  and 
without  interest  after  an  ignorant  and  incompe- 
tent leader.  Children  instinctively  object  to 
being  taught  by  one  whom  they  have  found  to  be 
ignorant  or  unready  in  their  lessons,  just  as  sol- 
diers refuse  to  follow  an  incompetent  commander. 
Nor  is  this  all.  As  the  great  scholars,  the  New- 
tons,  the  Humboldts,  and  the  Huxleys  kindle  pub- 
lic interest  in  the  sciences  which  lend  them  their 
renown,  so  the  ripe  knowledge  of  the  well-prepared 
teacher  awakens  in  his  class  the  active  desire  to 
know  more  of  the  studies  in  which  he  is  profi- 
cient. Science  and  religion  are  never  so  attract- 
ive as  when  seen  through  a  living  scholar  or 
Christian.  And  yet  it  must  be  confessed  that  the 
ability  to  inspire  pupils  with  a  love  of  study  is 
sometimes  lacking  even  where  great  knowledge  is 
possessed ;  and  this  lack  is  fatal  to  all  successful 
teaching,  especially  among  young  pupils.  Better 
a  teacher  with  limited  knowledge  but  with  this 
power  to  stimulate  his  pupils  than  a  very  Agassiz 
without  it.  The  cooped  hen  may  by  her  encourag- 
ing cluck  send  forth  her  chickens  to  the  fields  she 


The  Law  of  the  Teacher.  23 

can  not  herself  explore  ;  but  sad  the  fate  of  the 
brood  if  they  remain  in  the  coop  while  she  goes 
abroad  to  feed. 

11.  Such  is  the  profound  philosophy,  the  wide 
and  generous  meaning,  of  this  first  great  law  of 
teaching.     Thus  understood,  it  clearly  portrays  the 
splendid    ideal   which    no   one   except   the   Great 
Teacher  ever  fully  realized,  but  which  every  true 
teacher  must  more   or  less  nearly   approach.     It 
defines  with   scientific  certainty  the  forces   with 
which  the  successful  teacher  must  go  to  his  work. 
From  the  mother  teaching  her  child  to  talk,  to  the 
highest  teacher  of  science,  the  orator  instructing 
listening  senates,  and  the  preacher  teaching  great 
congregations,  this  law  knows  no  exceptions  and 
allows  no  successful  violations.     It  affirms  every- 
where, the  teacher  must  know  that  which  he  would 
teach.      Out   of   this    one  fundamental   law   must 
arise  every  practical  rule  to  guide  the  teacher  in 
preparing  for  his  work. 

Rules  for  Teachers. 

12.  Among  the  rules  which  arise  out  of   the 
Law  of  the  Teacher,  the  following  are  the  most 
important :  — 

(1)  Prepare  each  lesson  by  fresh  study.     Last 
year's  knowledge  has  necessarily  faded  somewhat. 
Only  fresh  conceptions  warm  and  inspire  us. 

(2)  Seek  in  the   lesson  its  analogies  and  like- 
nesses to  more  familiar  truths.     In  these  lie  the 
illustrations  by  which  it  may  be  taught  to  others, 


24  The  Seven  Laws  of  Teaching. 

(3)  Study  the'lesson  till  its  thoughts  take  shape 
in  familiar  language.     The  final  proof  and  product 
of  clear  thought  is  clear  speech. 

(4)  Find  the   natural  order   and  connection  of 
the  several  facts   and   truths   in    the   lesson.     In 
every  science  there  is  a  natural  path   of   ascent, 
from  its  simplest  notions  to  its  sublimest  outlooks. 
So,  too,  in  every  lesson.     The  temple  of  truth  is 
not  a  jumbled  mass  of  disjointed  facts. 

(5)  Seek    the    relation    of    the   lesson   to   the 
lives  and   duties   of  the   learners.     The   practical 
value  of  truth  lies  in  these  relations. 

(6)  Use  freely  all  aids,  but  never  rest  till  the 
truth  rises  clear  before  you  as  a  vision  seen  by 
your  own  eyes. 

(7)  Ask  for  #//the  facts  and  views  of  a  subject, 
but  be  sure  to  master  some.     Better  to  know  one 
truth  well  than  to  know  a  hundred  imperfectly. 

(8)  Have  a  time  for  the  study  of  each  lesson, 
and,  if  possible,  some  days  in  advance  of  the  teach- 
ing.    All  things  help  the  duty  done  on  time,  but 
all  things  hinder  or  hurry  the   duty  out   of  time. 
The  mind  keeps  on  studying  the  lesson  learned  in 
advance,  and   gathers  fresh  interest  and  illustra- 
tions. 

(9)  Have  a  plan  of  study,  but  study  beyond  the 
plan.     I  once  suggested  as  an  artificial  but  helpful 
plan  for  the  study  of  a  Bible  lesson  the  letters  of 
the  word  BIBLE.     B  —  Book  in  which  the  lesson 
is  found,  with  its  date,  author,  object,  and  contents 


The  Law  of  the  Teacher.  2$ 

or  scope.  I  —  Intention  of  the  lesson  ;  the  in- 
cluded facts,  and  the  interpretation  of  those  facts. 
B  —  Blessings  and  Benefits  to  be  gained  from  the 
lesson.  L  —  Losses  likely  to  follow  from  a  failure 
to  learn  and  obey.  E  —  Examples,  Experiences, 
and  Exhortation.  Let  the  teacher  address  each 
point  as  a  question  to  his  own  mind,  and  think  till 
he  gets  an  answer  —  and  an  answer  that  is  true. 
The  three  questions  What  ?  How  ?  and  Why  ? 
afford  a  more  perfect  mnemonic,  calling  for  more 
scientific  research  and  applying  to  all  branches  of 
knowledge. 

(10)  Do  not  deny  yourself  the  help  of  good 
books  on  the  subject  of  the  lessons.  Buy,  borrow, 
or  beg,  if  necessary,  but  get  the  help  of  the  best 
scholars  and  thinkers,  enough  at  least  to  set  your 
own  thoughts  going ;  but  do  not  read  without 
deep  and  original  thinking.  If  possible,  talk  your 
lesson  over  with  an  intelligent  friend.  Collision 
often  brings  light.  In  the  absence  of  these  aids, 
write  your  views.  The  nib  of  the  pen  digs  deep 
into  the  mines  of  truth.  Expressing  thought 
often  clears  it  of  its  dross  and  obscurities. 

Violations  and  Mistakes. 

1 3.  The  discussion  would  be  incomplete  without 
some  notice  of  the  frequent  violations  of  the  law. 
Some  one  has  said :  "  The  secret  of  success  is  to 
make  no  mistakes."  Certain  it  is  that  the  best 
teacher  may  spoil  his  most  careful  and  earnest 
work  by  some  small  and  careless  blunder. 


26  The  Seven  Laws  of  Teaching. 

(1)  The  very  ignorance  of  his  pupils  often  tempts 
the  teacher  to  neglect  all  preparation  and  study. 
He  thinks  that  at  any  rate   he  will   know   much 
more  of  the  lesson   than   the    children    can,    and 
counts  that  he  will  find  something  to  say  about  it, 
or  that  at  worst  his  ignorance  will  pass  unnoticed. 
A  sad  mistake,   and  often    costing  dear !     Some 
bright  or  studious  pupil  is  almost  sure  to  discover 
the   cheat,   and   henceforth   that   teacher's   credit 
with  his  class  is  gone. 

(2)  Some  teachers  assume  that  it  is  the  pupils' 
work,  not  theirs,  to   study   the  lesson  ;   and  that 
with  the  aid  of  the  book  in  hand,  they  will  easily 
enough  be  able  to  ascertain  if  the  children  have 
done  their  duty.     Better  let  one  of  the  pupils  who 
knows  his  lesson  examine  the  others,  and  sit  by  as 
a  learner,  rather   than  discourage  study  by  your 
too  evident  ignorance  and  indifference. 

(3)  Others  look  hastily  through  the  lesson,  and 
conclude  that  though  they  have  not  mastered  it, 
nor  perhaps  one  thought  in  it,  they  have  gathered 
enough  to  fill  the  brief  hour,  and  they  can,  if  need- 
ful, eke  out  the  little  they  know  with  random  talk 
or  story.     Or,  lacking  time  or  heart  for  any  prep- 
aration, they   carelessly   dismiss   all    thought    of 
teaching,  fill  the  hour  with  such  exercises  as  may 
occur  to  them,  and  hope  that,  as  the  Sunday-school 
is  a  good  thing,  the  children  will  get   some  good 
from  mere  attendance. 

'(4)  A  more  serious  fault  is  that  of  those  who, 
failing  to  find  anything  in  the  lesson,  try  to  graft 


The  Law  of  the  Teacher.  2? 

something  upon  it,  and  make  it  a  mere  cart  to 
carry  their  own  fancies  on. 

(5)  There  is  a  meaner,  if  not  also  a  more  mis- 
chievous, wrong  done  by  the  teacher  who  seeks  to 
conceal  his  lazy  ignorance  by  some  pompous  pre- 
tence of  learning,  hiding  his  lack  of  knowledge  by 
an  array  of  high-sounding  words  beyond  the  com- 
prehension of  his  pupils,  uttering  solemn  plati- 
tudes in  a  wise  tone,  or  claiming  extensive  study 
and  profound  information  which  he  has  not  the 
time  to  lay  properly  before  them.  Who  has  not 
seen  or  heard  all  these  shams  practised  upon 
children  ? 

Thus  a  majority,  perhaps,  of  teachers  go  to  their 
work  either  wholly  without  the  requisite  knowl- 
edge, or  only  partly  prepared  for  their  task.  They 
go  like  messengers  without  a  message,  and  all 
wanting  in  that  power  and  enthusiasm  which  fresh 
truth  alone  can  give  ;  and  so  the  grand  fruits  we 
look  for  from  this  great  army  of  workers  seem 
long  in  coming,  if  not  beyond  hope.  Let  this  first 
great  fundamental  law  of  teaching  be  thoroughly 
obeyed,  or  even  as  fully  as  ,the  circumstances  of 
our  teachers  will  permit,  and  there  will  come  to 
our  schools  an  attractive  charm  which  would  at 
once  increase  their  numbers  and  double  their  use- 
fulness. The  school-rooms,  now  so  often  dark  and 
dull,  would  glow  as  with  a  living  light,  and  teach- 
ers and  pupils,  instead  of  dragging  to  their  weary 
task,  would  hasten  to  their  meeting  as  to  a  joyous 
feast. 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE    LAW    OF   THE    LEARNER. 

i.  Passing  from  the  side  of  the  teacher  to  the 
side  of  the  pupil,  our  next  inquiry  is  for  the  Law 
of  the  Learner.  Here  the  search  must  be  for  that 
one  characteristic,  if  there  be  such,  which  divides 
and  differentiates  the  learner  from  other  persons 
—  for  that  essential  element  which  makes  the 
learner  a  learner.  Let  us  place  before  us  the  suc- 
cessful scholar,  and  note  carefully  whatever  is 
peculiar  and  essential  in  his  action  and  attributes. 
His  intent  look,  his  absorbed  manner,  his  face  full 
of  eager  action  or  of  profound  study,  —  all  these 
are  but  so  many  signs  of  deep  interest  and  active 
attention.  This  interest  and  attention,  the  insep- 
arable parts  of  one  mental  state,  make  up  the 
essential  attribute  of  every  true  learner.  The 
very  power  to  learn  lies  in  this  interested  atten- 
tion. It  is  the  one  essential  condition  on  which 
all  learning  is  possible.  It  constitutes,  therefore, 
the  natural  law  of  the  learner,  and  may  be  stated 
in  preceptive  form  as  follows  :  — 

The  learner  must  attend  with  interest  to  the  fact 
or  truth  to  be  learned. 


The  Law  of  the  Learner.  29 

2.  The  law  thus  stated  will  seem  as  trite  as  a 
common  truism,  but  it  is  as  really  profound  as  it  is 
seemingly  simple.     The  plainest  proof  of  its  truth 
lies  in  the   readiness  with  which  every   one   will 
admit    it.     Its   real   depth  can  only  be  found  by 
careful  study. 

Attention  Described. 

3.  Avoiding  as  much  as  possible  all  metaphysi- 
cal discussion,  we   may  describe   attention    as    a 
mental     attitude  —  the     attitude     in    which    the 
thought-power   is    actively  bent  toward,   or   fast- 
ened upon,   some   object    of    thought    or   percep- 
tion.    It  is  an  attitude,  not  of  ease  and  repose, 
but  of  effort  and  exertion.     It  means  not  merely 
position    and    direction,  but   action.      It    is     the 
will-power   marshaling    all    the    faculties    of    the 
mind  for  some  expected    onset,  or  holding   them 
with  steady  front   in   the   midst    of   conflict   and 
activity.     It  may  be  seen  in  the  man  who,  stand- 
ing with  idle,  vacant  stare,  gazing  at  nothing,  is 
suddenly  aroused  by   some   sight    or  sound.     At 
once  a  light  comes  into  the  eye,  the  look  becomes 
alert,  and  the  mind  is  put  into  conscious  action. 
There  is  a  felt  strain  of  the  thinking  faculty,  as 
of  an  appetite  hungering  for  its  food — an  intent 
fastening  of  the  intellect  upon  its  chosen  objects. 
This  aroused  activity  of  the  mind  —  this  awakened 
attitude  of  mental  power,  poised  and  eager  for  its 
work — we  call  ATTENTION. 


30  The  Seven  Laws  of  Teaching. 

Compelled   and  Attracted   Attention. 

4.  We  may  somewhat  loosely  divide  attention 
into   two   classes  :   compelled  and  attracted.     The 
first  is  given  by  an  effort  of  the  will,  in  obedience 
to  some  command  of  authority,  or  call  of  irksome 
duty ;  the  second  springs  from  desire,  and  is  given 
without  conscious  effort  and  with  eager  delight. 
The  first  is  cold,  mechanical,  and  powerless  ;  it  is 
the  child  studying  its  lesson  as  a  task,  with  slight 
interest  and  no   pleasure.     The  second   is    living 
and  full  of  power,  the  mind  eager  to  grasp  and 
possess  its  object.     It  is  that  of  the  boy  reading  a 
story   full    of    wonder   and    delight.       Compelled 
attention  in  adults  is  dull   and  dogged  ;  in   little 
children  it  is  partial  even  when  possible.     Gener- 
ally it  is  not  attention  at  all.     The  face  may  take 
on  the  look  of  attention,  but  the  mind  wanders  to 
more  winsome  objects.     It  learns  to  hate  lessons 
as  slaves  hate  labor.     Attracted  attention  is  men- 
tal power  alert  with  desire  and  eager  for  gratifica- 
tion.    It  is  mental  hunger  seeking  its  food,  and 
delighting  itself  as  at   a  feast.      Unconscious  of 
exertion,  it  gathers  strength  from  its  efforts,  and 
scarcely  knows  fatigue. 

5.  Compelled  attention  is  short-lived  and  easily 
exhausted.       Its     very    painfulness    wearies     the 
powers  of  body  and  mind.     If  urged  too  far,  its  ten- 
sion breaks,  and  the  child  yawns  and  even   sleeps 
with  exhaustion,   or  cries  with   pain    and   anger. 


The  Law  of  the  Learner.  31 

Attracted  attention,  on  the  other  hand,  is  full  of 
power  and  endurance.  Its  felt  interest  calls  dor- 
mant energies  into  play,  and  the  pleasure  given  by 
its  efforts  seems  to  refresh  rather  than  weary  the 
mind.  The  boy  forced  to  study  what  he  does  not 
like  feels  thoroughly  tired  in  half  an  hour.  Give 
him  now  a  story  which  he  enjoys,  and  he  will  read 
without  a  sign  of  weariness  for  two  or  three  hours 
longer,  till  the  tired  body  rebels,  and  will  not  sit 
still  any  longer. 

6.  At  times  in  the  outset  of  a  lesson  or  of  a 
subject,  there  may  seem  a  need  of  securing  the 
attention  of  the  class  or  of  some  members  of  it 
by  a  gentle   compulsion,  an  appeal  to  the  sense  of 
duty,  or  other  like  means ;  but  the  effort  in  such 
case  should  be  made  to  transform  this  compelled 
attention  into  that  which  is  fuller  of  spontaneity 
and  power.    We  may  be  obliged  to  lift  a  sleepy  child 
to  his  feet  by  main  strength,  but  unless  we  can 
waken  him  soon  to  walk  by  himself,  his  progress 
will  be  slow  and  small.     The   same  holds  true  in 
mental  movements. 

Degrees  of  Attention. 

7.  These  two  classes  of  attention  melt  into  each 
other  by   almost   insensible   degrees.     The   com- 
pelled sometimes  rises  into  true  or  attracted  atten- 
tion by  some  kindling  of  interest  in  the  subject ; 
and   not  unfrequently   the   latter   sinks   into   the 
former  with  the  disappearance  of  novelty  in  the 


32  The  Seven  Laws  of  TeacJiing. 

lesson.  Of  these  degrees  or  grades  in  attention, 
the  first  and  lowest  is  that  in  which  the  physical 
senses,  the  eye  and  ear  especially,  are  lent  to  the 
teacher,  and  the  mind  almost  passively  receives 
what  the  teacher  is  able  to  impress  forcibly  upon 
it.  This  grade  of  attention  is  too  common  to  need 
description.  It  may  be  seen  in  nearly  all  school- 
rooms, and  in  most  classes  at  the  beginning  of  the 
lesson.  The  pupils  sit  at  ease  waiting  to  be 
aroused. 

8.  From  this  lowest  grade  the  intellect  lifts  itself 
by  successive  steps  to  higher  activity  and  power 
under  some  impulse  of  duty,  of  sympathy,  of  emu- 
lation, or   of   hope   of   reward,   or   other   motives 
addressed  to  it  it  by  the  skillful  teacher.     But  the 
highest  grade  of  attention  is  that  in  which  the  sub- 
ject interests,  the  feeling  is  enlisted,  and  the  whole 
nature  attends.     Eye,  ear,  intellect,  and  heart  con- 
center their  powers  in  a  combined  effort,  and  the 
soul  sends  to  the  task  all  its  faculties  roused  to 
their  utmost  activity.     Such  is  the  attitude  of  the 
true  learner,  and  such  is  the  attention  demanded 
by  this  law  of  the  learner  in  its  perfect  fulfillment. 
Every  experienced  teacher  knows  how  easy  is  the 
teaching,  and  how  rapid  the  learning,  when  the  law 
is  thus  fulfilled. 

The  Philosophy  of  the  Law. 

9.  However  much  teachers  may  neglect  it  in 
practice,  they  readily  admit  in  theory  that  without 


The  Laiv  of  the  Learner.  33 

attention  the  pupil  can  learn  nothing.  One  may 
as  well  talk  to  the  deaf  or  the  dead  as  to  teach  a 
child  who  is  wholly  inattentive.  All  this  seems 
too  obvious  to  need  discussion ;  but  a  brief  survey 
of  the  psychological  facts  which  underlie  this  law 
will  bring  out  into  clearer  and  more  impressive 
light  its  vital  force  and  its  irrevocable  authority. 
10.  Knowledge  can  not  be  passed,  like  some 
material  substance,  from  one  person  to  another. 
Thoughts  are  not  things  which  may  be  held  and 
handled.  They  are  the  unseen  and  silent  acts  of 
the  invisible  mind.  Ideas,  the  products  of  thought, 
can  only  be  communicated  by  inducing  in  the 
receiving  mind  action  correspondent  to  that  by 
which  these  ideas  were  first  conceived.  In  other 
words,  ideas  can  only  be  transmitted  by  being  re- 
thought. It  is  obvious,  therefore,  that  something 
more  is  required  than  a  passive  presentation  of  the 
pupil's  mind  to  the  teacher's  mind  as  face  turns  to 
face.  The  pupil  must  think.  His  mind  must 
work,  not  in  a  vague  way,  without  object  or  direc- 
tion, but  under  the  control  of  the  will,  and  with  a 
fixed  aim  and  purpose ;  in  other  words,  with  atten- 
tion. It  is  not  enough  to  look  and  listen.  The 
learner's  mind  must  work  through  the  senses. 
There  must  be  mind  in  the  eye,  in  the  ear,  in  the 
hand.  If  the  mental  power  is  only  half  aroused 
and  feeble  in  its  action,  the  conceptions  gained 
will  be  faint  and  fragmentary,  and  the  knowledge 
acquired  will  be  as  inaccurate  and  useless  as  it  will 


34  The  Seven  Laws  of  Teaching. 

be  fleeting.  Teacher  and  text-book  may  be  full  of 
knowledge,  but  the  learner  will  get  from  them  only 
so  much  as  his  power  of  attention,  vigorously 
exercised,  enables  him  to  shape  in  his  own  mind. 
Knowledge  is  inseparable  from  the  act  of  knowing. 
If  the  power  of  knowing  is  small,  the  actual  knowl- 
edge acquired  will  also  be  small. 

11.  The  notion  that  the  mind   can   be  made 
merely  recipient  —  a  bag  to  be  filled  with  other 
people's  ideas,  a  piece  of  paper  on  which  another 
may  write,   a  cake   of   wax   under    the   seal  —  is 
neither  safe  nor  philosophical.     The  very  nature 
of  mind,  as  far  as  we  can  understand  it,  is  that  of 
a  self-acting  power  or  force  —  a  force  with  a  will 
within  it,  and  full  of  attractions  and  repulsions  for 
the  objects   around   it.     It   is   among   these  felt 
attractions  or  repulsions  that  the  self-moving  mind 
finds  its  motives.     Without   motive   there   is    no 
will ;  without  will  no  attention  ;  without  attention 
no  perception  or  intelligence.     The  striking  clock 
may  sound  as  loud  as  ever  in  the  portal  of  the  ear, 
and  the  passing  object  may  paint  its  image  as  clear 
as  light  in  the  open   eye,  but  the  absorbed   and 
inattentive  mind  hears  no  voice  and  sees  no  vision. 
What  reader  has  not  sometime  read  a  whole  page 
with  the  eyes,  and  when  he  reached  the  bottom 
found  himself  unable  to  recall  a  single  word   or 
idea  it  contained  ?     The  sense  had  done  its  work, 
but  the  mind  had  been  busy  with  other  thoughts. 

12.  The  vigor  of  mental   action,  like   that  of 


The  Law  of  the  Learner.  35 

muscular  action,  is  proportioned  to  the  feeling 
which  inspires  it.  The  powers  of  the  intellect  do 
not  come  forth  in  their  full  strength  at  the  mere 
command  of  a  teacher,  nor  on  the  call  of  some 
cold  sense  of  duty.  Nor  can  the  mind  exert  its 
full  force  upon  themes  which  but  lightly  touch  the 
feelings.  It  is  only  when  we  "  work  with  a  will, " 
that  is,  with  a  keen  and  stirring  interest  in  our 
work,  that  we  bring  our  faculties  of  body  or  mind 
out  in  their  fullest  energy.  Great  occasions  make 
men  great.  Unsuspected  reserve  powers  come 
forth  as  soon  as  the  demand  is  large  enough.  In 
the  heat  of  a  great  battle,  common  men  become 
heroic,  and  weak  men  strong.  So,  with  deepen- 
ing interest,  attention  deepens,  and  the  mind's 
reserve  powers  come  into  work. 

Sources  of  Interest. 

13.  The  sources  of  interest,  which  are  the 
approaches  to  the  attention,  are  as  numerous  as 
the  faculties  and  desires  of  man  and  the  different 
aspects  of  the  subjects  to  be  studied.  Each  organ 
of  sense  is  the  gate-way  to  the  pupil's  mind, 
though  these  gate-ways  differ  much  in  the  ease  of 
approach  and  in  the  volume  and  variety  of  ideas 
admitted.  The  hand  explores  a  field  limited  each 
moment  by  the  reach  of  the  arm,  and  takes  in 
only  the  tactual  qualities  of  matter ;  but  the  eye 
admits  the  visible  universe  to  its  portals  with  the 
swiftness  of  light,  and  takes  note  of  all  of  its  phe- 


36  The  Seven  Laws  of  Teaching. 

nomena  of  form,  size,  color,  and  motion.  To  com- 
mand all  these  gate-ways  of  the  senses  is  ordi- 
narily to  control  the  mind.  Infants  in  the  cradle 
may  be  lured  to  attention  by  a  bit  of  bright  rib- 
bon, and  they  will  cease  feeding  or  crying  to  gaze 
upon  some  strange  object  swung  before  their  eyes. 
The  orator's  gesturing  hand,  his  smiling  or  passion- 
laden  look,  and  his  many-toned  voice,  —  all  mere 
addresses  to  the  senses,  —  often  do  more  to  wake  the 
minds  and  hold  the  attention  of  his  auditors  than 
all  the  meanings  of  his  speech.  The  mind  can  not 
refuse  to  heed  that  which  appeals  with  power  to 
the  senses.  Whatever  is  novel  and  curious,  beau- 
tiful, grand,  or  sublime  in  mass  or  motion  ;  what- 
ever is  brilliant,  strange,  or  charming  in  color  or 
combination, — the  eye  fastens  and  feeds  upon 
fhese,  and  the  mind  comes  at  its  bidding  to  enjoy 
and  protract  the  feast. 

14.  The  teacher  has  not  the  orator's  opportunity 
for  free  and  grand  gesticulation,  nor  for  his  com- 
manding use  of  the  voice ;  but  within  narrower 
limits  and  in  finer,  because  more  easy  and  familiar, 
play,  he  has  within  his  power  all  that  face,  voice,  or 
hand  can  do  to  arrest  atention ;  and  has,  besides, 
all  that  nature  and  art  can  afford  to  address  the 
senses  and  awaken  the  intelligence.  A  sudden 
pause,  with  lifted  hand,  as  if  listening,  will  silence 
all  noise  in  the  class  and  put  the  pupils  to  listen- 
ing also.  The  sudden  showing  of  a  picture,  or  of 
some  object  illustrating  the  lesson,  will  attract  the 


The  Law  of  the  Learner.  37 

most  careless  and  awaken  the  most  apathetic.  It 
is  the  shock  of  change,  as  well  as  the  novelty  of  a 
new  sensation,  which  helps  to  produce  the  effect. 
The  sudden  raising  or  dropping  of  the  voice 
arouses  fresh  attention,  as  also  does  a  quick  and 
unusual  movement  of  the  hands,  head,  or  body.  A 
person  who  has  fallen  asleep  amid  noise  wakes 
when  the  noise  suddenly  ceases.  The  shock  of 
silence  awakens  the  senses  put  to  sleep  by  monot- 
onous sounds.  So,  on  the  contrary,  the  shock  of 
sudden  noise  awakens  those  who  are  sleeping  amid 
silence. 

Effect  of  a  New  Idea. 

15.  The  influence  of  shock  extends  also  to  the 
mind.       A    sudden   appeal   made   to   any   mental 
faculty  awakens  us  like  the  sudden  shaking  of  a 
sleeper  by  the  shoulder.     It  drives  away  all  dreami- 
ness and  apathy.     When  we  see   a   careless  and 
listless  pupil  suddenly  become  alert  and  attentive, 
we  say  to  ourselves  :   "  He  has  been  struck  with  a 
new  idea."     He  rouses  like  one  who  has   felt  a 
blow.     The  shock  of  a  new  thought  has  sometimes 
had  the  power  to  change  the  entire  course  of  a 
life,  as  in  the  story  of  the  Prodigal  Son,  and  as  in 
less  degree  all  lives  change  with  the  changes  of 
thinking. 

Questions  that  Startle. 

16.  The  awakening  and  stirring   power   of    a 
skillful  question  lies    largely  in   this   principle  of 


3&  The  Seven  Laws  of  Teaching. 

the  shock.  It  startles  the  intelligence  as  with  an 
impinging  blow.  The  ordinary  questions  read 
from  the  book,  where  the  pupils  have  already  seen 
and  answered  them,  may  have  their  uses,  but  they 
lack  all  power  to  startle  and  stir  the  mind.  They 
simply  call  for  the  repetition  of  thoughts  already 
studied  and  known.  To  produce  its  highest  effect, 
the  question  must  have  the  element  of  the  unex- 
pected in  it.  It  must  surprise  the  mind  with 
some  fresh  and  novel  v^ew  of  the  subject,  and 
must  call  sharply  for  new  thought.  The  common 
style  of  Sunday-school  questions  asked  with  the 
book  open  before  the  pupil,  such  as  :  "  What  did 
Nicodemus  say  to  Jesus  ?  What  did  Jesus 
answer?"  has  little  power  to  stir  or  teach.  The 
mind  feels  no  shake  of  the  shoulder  —  no  stimu- 
lating call  to  wakeful  effort.  They  are  sham  ques- 
tions —  questions  in  form  only,  asking  for  what  is 
well  known  and  in  plain  sight.  The  true  question 
implies  the  uncertain.  It  asks  for  the  unseen  and 
unknown.  Like  bugle  blasts,  such  questions  sum- 
mon all  the  faculties  into  the  field  of  action. 

The  Mental  Appetites. 

17.  Passing  within  to  the  field  of  the  mind's 
own  powers,  other  sources  of  interest  and  springs 
of  attention  appear.  There  lurks  the  imagina- 
tion ready  to  take  wing  with  delight  at  any  pic- 
turesque, beautiful,  or  sublime  aspect  which  the 
lesson  may  present.  There  sits  the  intelligence 


The  Law  of  the  Learner.  39 

quick  to  stir,  with  its  intense  curiosity  to  see  and 
know  the  hidden  and  unknown ;  and  there  stands 
the  reason,  restless  till  it  shall  array  its  facts,  con- 
struct its  theories,  collect  proofs,  and  demonstrate 
its  solutions  of  the  problems  and  questions  which 
the  lesson  involves.  These  are  the  mental  appe- 
tites, and  each  has  its  objects  of  search,  its  joy  in 
action,  and  its  pride  of  achievement. 

1 8.  Another  source  of  genuine  interest  may  be 
found  in  the  connection  of  the  lesson  with  some- 
thing in  the  past  life  and  studies  of  the  learner ; 
and  a  still  richer  one  in  its  relations  to  his  future 
duties  and  employments.  We  may  add  to  these 
the  sympathetic  interest  inspired  by  the  teacher's 
manifested  delight  in  the  theme,  and  by  the  gener- 
ous emulation  of  fellow-learners  in  the  same  field. 
All  these  touch  the  pupil's  personality.  They  ap- 
peal to  his  selfhood.  They  stir  the  hopes  or  fears, 
which  are  quick  to  color  every  truth  with  some 
bright  promise  of  good  to  be  gained  or  shade  it 
with  some  menace  of  evil  to  be  escaped.  The 
mind  will  brave  and  undergo  the  most  fatiguing 
efforts,  and  persistently  study  the  most  tiresome 
lessons,  to  secure  some  high  advantage  or  to  avoid 
some  threatened  trouble.  Self-love,  the  strongest 
and  most  persistent  of  human  feelings,  sways  the 
scepter  of  a  monarch  over  all  faculties  and  feelings. 
When  it  bi£s,  they  wake  and  work  with  sharpest 
energies.  Such  are  the  great  sources  of  the  mind's 
interest  in  its  objects,  and  when  the  appeal  can  be 


40  The  Seven  Laws  of  Teaching. 

made  to  several  of  them  the  effect  is  deep  and  in- 
tense. The  teacher  who  knows  how  to  touch  all 
these  keys  whose  vibrant  chords  thrill  mind  and 
heart  may  command  all  the  resources  of  his  pupil's 
soul.  But  he  should  note  that  any  one  element  of 
interest  felt  in  its  greatest  fulness  may  be  stronger 
than  several  only  partly  awakened. 

Interest  varies  with  Age. 

19.  The  sources  of  interest  vary  with  the  ages 
of  learners  and  with  the  advancing  stages  of  growth 
and  intelligence.  This  fact  is  important.  The 
child  of  six  feels  little  interest  and  gives  no  gen- 
uine attention  to  many  of  the  themes  which  en- 
gross the  mind  of  the  youth  of  sixteen.  In  general, 
the  lower  motives  are  felt  first ;  the  nobler  and  finer 
come  only  with  years  and  culture.  The  animal 
appetites  awaken  long  before  the  spiritual.  Chil- 
dren and  adults  are  often  indeed  interested  in  the 
same  scenes  and  objects,  but  it  does  not  follow 
that  they  are  interested  in  the  same  ideas.  The 
child  finds  in  the  object  some  striking  fact  of  sense 
or  some  personal  gratification ;  the  adult  mind 
attends  to  the  profounder  relations,  the  causes  or 
consequences  of  the  fact.  As  attention  follows  in- 
terest, it  is  folly  to  attempt  to  gain  attention  to  a 
lesson  in  which  the  pupil  can  not  be  led  to  feel  any 
genuine  interest.  The  assertion  that  children 
ought  to  be  compelled  to  pay  attention  because  it 
is  their  duty  denies  the  fundamental  condition  of 


The  Law  of  the  Learner.  41 

attention.  If  the  duty  is  felt  by  the  child,  it  is  an 
element  of  interest ;  but  if  it  is  felt  simply  in  the 
teacher's  mind  it  only  repels.  In  the  little  child, 
affection  and  sympathy  take,  in  part,  the  place  of 
conscience,  and  through  these  he  may  be  made  to 
feel  the  claims  of  obligations  which  he  can  not  fully 
understand.  The  mother's  horror  of  wrong-doing 
and  her  delight  in  well-doing  are  felt  through  sym- 
pathy in  the  heart  of  her  boy  ;  and  so,  too,  the  little 
pupil  may  be  led  to  feel  an  interest  in  studies 
which  the  teacher  loves  and  praises,  before  his 
intelligence  has  come  to  fully  appreciate  their 
importance. 

20.  The  power  of  attention  increases  with  the 
mental  development,  and  is  proportioned  nearly  to 
the  years  of  the  child.     It  is  one  of  the  most  valu- 
able products  of  education.     Idiots  and  infants  are 
almost  destitute  of  it ;  even  short  lessons  wearying 
and   exhausting   the  attention  of  young  children. 
"  Little  and  often  "  is  the  rule  for  teaching  very 
young  pupils.     The  power  of  steady  and  prolonged 
attention   belongs  only  to    strong  minds,  and   to 
those  trained  by  long  education.     Said  a  man  of 
noted  intellectual  distinction  :  "  The  difference  be- 
tween me  and  ordinary  men  lies  in  my  ability  to 
maintain  my  attention  —  to  keep  on  plodding." 

21.  Attention  is  not  a  separate  faculty  of  the 
mind,  but  rather  an  active  attitude  of  some  or  all 
the  faculties.     Its  power,  therefore,  must  depend 
upon  the  number  and  strength  of  the  faculties  in- 


42  The  Seven  Laws  of  Teaching. 

volved.  Attention  will  be  steadiest  when  the  ap- 
peal is  made  to  the  strongest  faculty.  One  person 
can  give  steady  attention  to  objects  of  sense,  an- 
other to  objects  of  the  imagination,  and  a  third  to 
processes  of  reason.  A  lawyer  reads  and  remem- 
bers law  cases  with  great  facility  ;  a  physician  is  at 
once  interested  in  the  reports  of  medical  cases,  and 
a  clergyman  in  a  new  treatise  on  theology.  These 
are  fruits  of  education ;  but  there  are  also  native 
diversities  of  tastes  and  powers  which  appear  even 
in  childhood.  Kriisi,  the  pupil  of  Pestalozzi,  and 
himself  one  of  the  noblest  and  most  sagacious  of 
teachers,  tells  of  two  children.  The  one,  six  years 
old,  "  sees  God  every  where  as  an  omnipresent  man 
before  him.  God  gives  the  birds  their  food ;  God 
has  a  thousand  hands  ;  God  sits  upon  all  the  trees 
and  flowers."  The  other  child,  he  says,  "has  an 
entirely  different  view  of  God.  To  him  he  is  a 
being  afar  off,  but  who  from  afar  sees,  hears,  and 
controls  every  thing."  So  differently  do  the  minds 
of  children  work.  One  student  is  successful  in 
mathematics,  another  in  history,  a  third  in  lan- 
guage. To  teach  in  the  line  of  the  strongest  facul- 
ties is  to  teach  with  the  highest  success.  Nature 
itself  favors  such  teaching. 

Hindrances  to  Attention. 

22.  The  two  chief  hindrances  to  attention  are 
apathy  and  distraction.  The  former  may  arise  from 
constitutional  inertness,  from  lack  of  taste  for  the 


The  Law  of  the  Learner.  43 

subject  under  consideration,  or  from  weariness  or 
other  unfavorable  bodily  condition  of  the  hour. 
Distraction  is  the  division  of  the  attention  between 
several  objects.  It  is  the  common  fault  of  undis- 
ciplined minds,  and  is  the  foe  of  all  sound  learning. 
The  quick  senses  of  children  are  caught  so  easily 
by  a  great  variety  of  objects,  and  they  find  in  each 
so  little  to  interest  them,  that  their  thoughts  flit  as 
with  the  tireless  wing  of  the  butterfly.  Memory 
holds  with  loose  grasp  the  lessons  learned  with 
apathy  or  distraction,  and  the  reason  refuses  such 
poor  materials  for  its  work.  If  the  apathy  or  dis- 
traction come  from  fatigue  or  illness,  the  wise 
teacher  will  not  attempt  to  force  the  lesson.  Bet- 
ter to  let  it  go  for  the  time,  and  cheer  and  lift  up 
the  pupil  by  a  kindly  sympathy,  diverting  and 
arousing  him  by  some  unexpected  talk  or  story,  or 
leaving  him  to  rest  in  quiet. 

Rules  for  Teachers. 

Out  of  this  Law  of  the  Learner,  thus  expounded, 
emerge  some  of  the  most  important  rules  for 
teaching  :  — 

1.  Never  begin  a  class  exercise  till  the  atten- 
tion of  the  class  is  secured.     Study  for  a  moment 
in  silence,  the  face  of  each  pupil  to  see  if  all  are 
mentally,  as  well  as  bodily,  present. 

2.  Pause  whenever  the  attention  is  interrupted 
or  lost,  and  wait  till  it  is  completely  regained. 

3.  Never  exhaust  wholly  the  pupil's  power  of 


44  The  Seven  Laws  of  Teaching. 

attention.  Stop  when  signs  of  weariness  appear, 
and  either  dismiss  the  class  or  change  the  subject 
to  kindle  fresh  attention. 

4.  Fit  the  length  of  the  exercise  to  the  ages 
of  the  class  :   the  younger  the  pupils  the  briefer 
the  lesson. 

5.  Arouse,  and  when  needful  rest,  the  atten- 
tion by  a  pleasing  variety,  but  avoid  distraction. 
Keep  the  real  lesson  in  view. 

6.  Kindle  and  maintain  the  highest    possible 
interest  in  the  subject  itself.     Interest  and  atten- 
tion react  upon  each  other. 

7.  Present  those  aspects  of  the  lesson,  and  use 
such  illustrations,  as  fit  the  ages,  characters,  and 
attainments  of  the  class. 

8.  Watch  to  learn  the  tastes  and  strongest  fac- 
ulties of   each  pupil,  and  as    far  as  possible   ad- 
dress the  questions  to  those  tastes  and  faculties. 
To  do  this  is  to  hold  the  very  heart-strings  of  the 
pupil. 

9.  Find   out    the   favorite  stories,  songs,    and 
subjects  of  each  scholar.     In  these  will  be  found 
the  keys  to  their  mental  powers  and  habits   and 
the    ready   means    to    arouse    their  interest    and 
attention. 

10.  Watch  keenly  against    all  sources  of   dis- 
traction, such  as  unusual  noises  and  sights,  inside 
the  class  and  out ;  all  contacts  and  motions  dis- 
comforting or  diverting. 

11.  Prepare  beforehand  some  questions  which 


The  Law  of  the  Learner.  45 

will  awaken  thought,  but  not  beyond  the  powers 
and  knowledge  of  the  pupils. 

12.  Address  the  instruction  to  as  many  of  the 
senses   and   faculties    as  possible,  but    beware  of 
drawing  the  attention  from  the  subject  to  some 
mere  illustration. 

13.  Let  the  teacher  maintain  in  himself  and 
exhibit  the  closest  attention  and  the  most  genu- 
ine interest  in  the   lesson.     True   enthusiasm   is 
contagious. 

14.  Study  the  best  use  of  the  eye  and  hand. 
These  are  the  natural  instruments  of  mental  com- 
mand.    No  pupil  can  help  feeling  the  earnest  gaze 
fixed  upon  his  face ;  and  none  will  fail  to  watch 
and  interpret  the  lifted  hand,  the  working  fingers, 
the  clenched  fist,  or  any  of   the  eloquent  move- 
ments of  these  five-fingered  monitors. 

Violations  and  Mistakes. 

The  violations  of  the  Law  of  the  Learner  are 
many,  and  they  constitute  the  most  fatal  class  of 
errors  committed  by  ordinary  teachers. 

(1)  Lessons   are  commenced  before   the   atten- 
tion of  the  class  is  gained,  and  continued  after  it 
has  ceased  to  be  given.     As  well  begin  before  the 
pupils  have   entered  the  room,   or  continue  after 
they  have  left.     You  can  not  pour  water  into  a  jug 
while  the  stopper  is  in  place,  nor  get  sight  from 
the  eye  when  the  lids  are  closed. 

(2)  Pupils  are  urged  to   listen  and  learn  after 


46  The  Seven  Laws  of  Teaching. 

their  limited  power  of  attention  is  exhausted  and 
when  weariness  has  sealed  their  minds  against 
any  further  impression.  I  remember  seeing  a 
teacher  of  good  reputation  try  to  teach  a  large 
class  the  use  of  the  possessive  case.  She  began 
with  all  eyes  fixed  upon  her  ;  but,  as  she  went  on, 
one  after  another  lost  interest  and  ceased  to  at- 
tend, till,  at  the  close  of  her  explanation,  only  one 
pupil  was  carefully  following,  and  to  this  one  she 
addressed  her  closing  question. 

(3)  Little  or  no  effort  is  made  to  discover  the 
tastes  of  the  pupil  or  to  create  a  real  interest  in 
the  subject  studied.     The  teacher,  feeling  no  fresh 
interest  in  his  work,  seeks  to  compel  the  attention 
he  is  unable  to  attract,  and  awakens  disgust  by 
his  dulness  and  dryness  where  he  ought  to  inspire 
delight  by  his  intelligence  and  active    sympathy. 

(4)  Not  a  few  teachers  nearly  kill  the  power  of 
attention  in  their  pupils  by  neglecting  to  call  it 
out  and  give  it  vigorous  exercise.     They  drone  on 
through   dull  hours   and    dreary  routine,    reading 
commonplace  questions  from  the  books,  without  a 
single    fresh  inquiry  or  startling  and  interesting 
statement ;  and  without  any  keen  and  stirring  de- 
mand for  all  the  powers  of  the  pupils  to  rush    to 
action.     The  children  in  such  schools  seek  some 
attitude  of  lazy  ease  as  soon   as    they  enter   the 
room. 

What  wonder  that  through  these  and  other  vio- 
lations of  this  law  of  teaching  our  schools  are  often 


The  Law  of  the  Learner.  47 

made  unattractive,  and  their  success  is  so  limited 
and  poor  !  If  obedience  to  these  rules  is  so 
important  in  the  common  schools,  where  the 
attendance  of  the  children  is  compelled  by  parents, 
and  where  the  professional  instructor  teaches  with 
full  authority  of  law,  how  much  more  is  it  neces- 
sary in  the  Sunday-school,  where  attendance  and 
teaching  are  voluntary,  and  where  attraction  must 
do  the  work  of  authority  !  Fortunately  the  Sun- 
day-school holds,  in  the  interest  of  its  associations, 
in  the  surpassing  sacredness  and  divine  grandeur 
of  its  themes,  in  the  variety  and  splendor  of  its 
truths  and  facts,  and,  above  all,  in  the  tender  and 
immortal  relationship  which  these  truths  establish 
between  the  Christian  teacher  and  his  pupils, 
advantages  which  may  amply  compensate  for  the 
lack  of  the  authority  and  of  the  professional  expe- 
rience of  the  common  school.  But  let  the  Sun- 
day-school teacher  who  would  win  the  richest  and 
best  results  of  teaching  give  to  this  Law  of  the 
Learner  his  profoundest  thought  and  his  most 
patient  following.  Let  him  master  the  art  of 
gaining  and  keeping  attention,  and  of  exciting 
genuine  and  stirring  interest,  and  he  will  wonder 
and  rejoice  at  the  fruitfulness  of  his  work." 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE    LAW   OF   THE    LANGUAGE. 

1.  We  have  now,  confronting  each  other,  the 
Teacher    with    his    law    of    knowledge,    and    the 
Learner  with  his  condition    of    interested    atten- 
tion.    We  are  next  to  study  the  medium  of  com- 
munication between  them  and   learn  the  Law  of 
the  Language. 

2.  Two  minds,  housed  in  material  bodies  which 
are  at  once  limiting  prisons  and  living  machinery, 
are  to  be  brought  into  intellectual  intercourse  — 
the  fine  commerce  of  thought  and  feeling.     What- 
ever souls  may  do  in  other  worlds,  in  this   they 
nave  no  known  spirit  connections.     Here  the  or- 
gans of  sense  are  parts  of  material  bodies,  and  can 
be  touched  and  impressed  only  by  matter  and  ma- 
terial phenomena.     The  two  minds  must  find  in 
these  physical  phenomena  the  means  of  intercourse. 
Out  of  these  they  must  construct  the  symbols  and 
signs  by  which  they  can  signal  to  each  other  the 
mental  facts  which  they  wish  to  communicate.     A 
system  of  such  symbols  or  signs  is  language.     It 
may  consist  of  the  picture-writing  of  the  savage 
races,  the  alphabets  of  civilized  peoples,  the   fin- 
ger alphabet  or  signs  of  the  deaf-mutes,  the  oral 


The  Law  of  the  Language.  49 

speech  of  the  hearing,  or  of  the  objects  of  sense, 
pictures,  and  gestures  ;  but,  whatever  its  form,  or 
to  whatever  sense  it  is  addressed,  it  is  language  — 
a  medium  of  communication  between  minds,  a 
necessary  instrument  of  teaching,  and  having, 
like  all  other  factors  in  the  teaching  art,  its  own 
natural  law. 

3.  This  law,  like  those  already  discussed,  is  as 
simple  as  an  every-day  fact.     It  may  be  stated  as 
follows  :  — 

The  language  used  in  teaching  must  be  common 
to  teacher  and  /earner. 

In  other  words,  it  must  be  a  true  language  to 
each,  —  to  him  that  hears  as  well  as  to  him  that 
speaks,  —  with  the  same  meaning  to  both,  clear  in 
sense  and  clearly  understood. 

The  Philosophy  of  the  Law. 

4.  This  Law  of  Language  reaches  down  into 
the  deepest  facts  of    mind,  and  runs  out  to    the 
widest  connections  of  thought  with  life  and  with 
the  world  we  live  in.     The  very  power  of  thought 
rests  largely  upon  this  fabric  of  speech. 

5.  Language  in  its  simplest  definition  is  a  sys- 
tem of   artificial  signs.     Its  separate  words  have 
no  likeness   to    the    things    they  signify,  and    no 
meanings  except  those  we  give  them.     A  word  is 
the  sign  of  an  idea  to  him  alone  who  has  the  idea, 
and  who  has  learned   the    word    as    its    sign    or 


50  The  Seven  Laws  of  Teaching. 

symbol.  Without  the  idea  in  the  mind,  the 
word  comes  to  the  ear  only  as  an  unmeaning 
sound,  a  sign  of  nothing  at  all.  No  one  has 
more  language  than  he  has  learned,  and  the 
acquisition  of  a  large  vocabulary  is  the  work  of  a 
lifetime.  A  teacher  may  know  ten  thousand 
words  ;  the  child  will  scarcely  know  as  many  hun- 
dreds, but  these  few  hundreds  of  words  represent 
the  child's  ideas,  and  within  this  narrow  circuit  of 
signs  and  thoughts  the  teacher  must  come  if 
he  would  be  understood.  Outside  of  these  the 
teacher's  language  is  as  unmeaning  to  the  child  as 
if  it  were  mere  drum-taps.  His  language  may 
sometimes  be  partially  and  vaguely  understood  by 
reason  of  the  known  words  scattered  through  it 
but  may  as  frequently  mislead  as  lead  aright. 

6.  Most  words  have  more  than  one  meaning. 
In  the  common  expressions  —  "  Mind  and  matter  ;  " 
"What  is  the  matter?"  "What  matters  it?"  "It 
is  a  serious  matter;"  "The  subject  matter,"  —the 
same  word  is  made  not  only  to  carry  double,  but 
quadruple.  This  variety  of  meanings  given  to  our 
words  may  enrich  them  for  the  orator  and  poet, 
but  it  is  a  serious  defect  in  language  for  the  young 
learner.  Having  mastered  a  word  as  the  sign  of 
a  familiar  idea,  he  is  suddenly  confronted  by  it 
with  a  new  and  unknown  meaning.  He  has 
learned,  perhaps,  to  fasten  a  horse  to  a  post,  when 
he  hears  the  strange  text,  "  My  days  are  swifter 
than  a  post,"  or  reads  the  warning,  "  Post  no  bills 


The  Law  of  the  Language.  5 1 

here,"  and  hears  of  a  " military  post."  The 
teacher  knowing  all  the  meanings  of  his  words, 
and  guided  by  the  context  in  selecting  the  one  re- 
quired by  the  thought,  reads  on  or  talks  on,  think- 
ing that  his  language  is  rich  in  ideas  and  bright 
with  intelligence ;  but  his  pupils,  knowing  only  a 
single  meaning  perhaps  for  each  word,  are  stopped 
by  great  gaps  in  the  sense,  bridged  only  by  un- 
meaning sounds  which  puzzle  and  confuse  them. 
It  would  often  amuse  us  if  we  could  know  what 
ideas  our  words  call  up  in  little  children.  The  boy 
who  wanted  to  see  "the  wicked  flea  whom  no  man 
pursueth,"  and  the  other  who  said  :  "  Don't  view 
me  with  a  cricket's  eye,"  have  many  classmates  in 
the  schools. 

The  Vehicle  of  Thought. 

/.  Language  has  been  called  the  vehicle  of 
thought ;  but  it  does  not  carry  thoughts  as  carts/ 
carry  goods,  to  fill  an  empty  store-house.  It  ratlW 
conveys  them  as  the  wires  convey  telegrams,  as 
signals  to  the  receiving  operator,  who  must  re- 
translate the  message  from  the  ticks  he  hears.  Not 
what  the  speaker  expresses  from  his  own  mind,  but 
what  the  hearer  understands  and  reproduces  in  his 
mind,  measures  the  exact  communicating  power  of 
the  language  used.  Words  that  are  poor  and  weak 
to  the  young  and  ignorant  are  eloquent  with  a 
hundred  rich  and  impressive  meanings  to  the  edu- 
cated and  intelligent.  Thus  the  simple  word  art 


5  2  The  Seven  Laws  of  Teaching. 

to  the  common  mind  means  craft,  —  a  mechanic's 
trade  or  a  hypocrite's  pretence;  to  a  Reynolds  or  a 
Ruskin  it  is  also  the  expression  of  all  that  is  grand 
and  beautiful  in  human  achievement  and  of  all 
that  is  benign  and  elevating  in  civilization.  It 
speaks  of  paintings,  sculptures,  and  cathedrals,  and 
of  all  that  is  beautiful  in  nature,  in  landscape,  sky, 
and  sea  —  all  that  is  noble  or  picturesque  in  history 
and  life  —  all  that  is  hidden  in  the  moral  and 
aesthetic  nature  of  man.  Men's  words  are  ships 
freighted  with  the  riches  of  every  shore  of  knowl- 
edge which  their  owner  has  visited  ;  a  child's  words 
are  but  toy  boats  on  which  are  loosely  loaded  the 
simple  notions  he  has  picked  up  in  his  play- 
grounds. 

8.  So,  too,  words  come  often  to  be  loved  or 
hated  for  the  ideas  they  suggest.  Thus  the  word 
religion,  to  the  Christian  thinker,  is  sacred  and 
sublime  with  the  divinest  meanings.  It  paints  on 
the  dark  background  of  human  history,  filled  with 
sin  and  sorrow,  all  that  is  glorious  in  the  character 
and  government  of  God,  all  that  is  highest  in  faith 
and  feeling,  and  all  that  is  hopeful  and  bright  in 
tne  immortality  of  man.  To  the  mere  worldling  it 
is  the  name  of  a  mass  of  disagreeable  ceremonies 
or  of  more  distasteful  duties.  To  the  atheist  it  is 
the  expression  of  what  he  calls  degrading  supersti- 
tions and  hateful  creeds.  In  a  less  marked  de- 
gree, such  variations  of  significance  belong  to  hun- 
dreds of  the  common  words  of  our  language.  It  is 


The  Law  of  the  Language.  53 

evident  that  he  will  teach  most   and  best  whose 
well-chosen   words   raise   the   most    and   clearest 
images,  and  excite  the  highest  action,  in  the  minds   ' 
of  his  pupils. 

9.     The  reason  goes  further.     In  all  true  teach- 
ing thought  passes  in  both  directions — -from  pupil 
to  teacher  as  well  as  from  teacher  to  pupil.     It  is 
as  needful  that  the  man  shall  clearly  understand 
the  child  as  it  is  that  the  child  shall  understand 
the  man.     A  child  often  loads  a  common  word  with  j 
some  strange,  false,  or  half  meaning,  and  years  may  / 
pass  before  the  mistake  is  detected  and  corrected,  I 
Their  very  poverty  of  speech  often  compels  chil- 
dren to  use  words  out  of  the  true  sense.      How 
shall  the  teacher  know  what  to  teach  till  he  knows 
what  the  pupil  needs  to  learn  ?     And  how  shall  he 
know  the  pupil's  needs  till  he  learns  it  from  that 
pupil's  words  ? 

The  Instrument  of  Thought. 

10.  But  language  is  the  instrument ',  as  well  as 
the  vehicle,  of  thought.  Words  are  tools  under 
whose  plastic  touch  the  mind  reduces  the  crude 
masses  of  its  impressions  into  clear  and  valid  prop- 
ositions. Ideas  become  incarnate Injwqrds.  They 
rise  into  visible  forms  in  language,  and  stand  ready 
to  be  studied  and  known,  to  be  marshaled  into 
the  combinations  and  mechanism  of  intelligible 
thought.  Till  our  conceptions  are  thus  shaped  into 
expression,  they  flit  as  vague  phantoms,  intangible 


\ 


54  The  Seven  Laws  of  Teaching. 

and  indistinct.  Their  real  character  and  value, 
and  their  manifold  and  useful  relations,  are  un- 
known, if  not  also  unsuspected.  More  than  half 
the  work  of  teaching  is  that  of  helping  the  child  to 
gain  a  full  and  clear  expression  of  what  it  already 
knows  imperfectly.  It  is  to  aid  him  to  lift  up  into 
full  sight,  and  to  round  out  into  plain  and  adequate 
sentences,  the  dim  and  fragmentary  ideas  and  per- 
ceptions of  childhood.  No  teaching  is  complete 
that  does  not  issue  in  plain  and  intelligent  expres- 
sion of  the  truth  taught ;  but  it  is  the  most  miser- 
able of  mockeries  when,  in  place  of  leading  the 
child  to  perfect  and  put  into  its  own  simple  speech 
its  own  simple  conceptions  of  truth,  we  impose 
upon  it  the  ready-made  definitions  of  some  learned 
master  or  teacher,  dressed,  for  the  most  part, 
in  words  it  never  heard  before.  Better  David's 
simple  sling  than  Saul's  kingly  armor  for  the 
young  warrior  seeking  the  mastery  over  some 
science. 

1 1.  We  may  go  further,  and  say  that  in  a  large 
degree  talking  is  thinking.  Ideas__nru££  precede 
wocd^inall  but  parrot-speech.  The  most  useful, 
and  sometimes  the  mosF  difficult,  processes  in 
thinking  are  those  in  which  we  fit  words  to  ideas, 
and  fashion  sentences  to  express  thoughts.  To 
state  a  question  or  problem  fully  and  clearly  is 
often  the  best  part  of  answering  it.  Ideas  rise  be- 
fore us  at  first  like  the  confused  mass  of  objects  in 
a  new  landscape.  To  put  them  into  clear  and  cor- 


The  Law  of  the  Language.  55 

rect  words  and  sentences  is  to  make  the  landscape 
familiar. 

"  Thoughts  disentangle  passing  o'er  the  lip." 

12.  We  master  truth  by  expressing  it,  and  re- 
joice when  we  have  clearly  expressed  our  thought 
as  one  who  has  gained  a  victory.      But  to  make 
talking  thinking  it  must  be  original,  not  mere  par- 
rot-like repetition  of  other  people's  words.     In  this 
battle  with  truth,  reluctant  to  surrender  itself,  it 
is  the  child's  own  hand  that  must  grasp  and  use 
the  weapon.     It  is  the^^upJLwhojmuslialk.     What 
teacher  has  not  stood  and  watched  the  battle  when 
a  little  group  of  children  have  attacked  some  knotty 
problem,  and  each  in  turn  has  tried  to  reduce  the 
truth  to  proper  speech  ?  and  how  proud  and  hon- 
ored the  victor  when  he  has  forced  the  thought  into 
the  fitting  words  which  all  recognized  as  the  true  ex- 
pression !     Kriisi  tells  of  one  of  his  pupils  who  was 
set  to  write  a  letter  to  his  parents,  and  complained : 
"  It  is  hard  for  me  to  write  a  letter."     "  Why  !  you 
are  now  a  year  older,  and  ought  to  be  better  able 
to  do  it."     "  Yes  ;  but  a  year  ago  I  could  say  every- 
thing I  knew,  but  now  I  know  more  than  I  can 
say."     Kriisi  adds  :  "This  answer  astonished  me." 
It  will  astonish  all  who  have  not  thought  deeply  of 
the  difficulty  of  getting  a  mastery  of  language  to 
express  our  thoughts. 

13.  Language  has  yet  another  use.     It  is  th< 
store-house  of  our  knowledge.     All  that  we  know 


56  The  Seven  Laws  of  Teaching. 

of  any  object,  fact,  or  truth  may  be  found  laid  up 
"\  in  the  words  we  use  concerning  them.  Words 
are  not  only  the  signs  of  our  ideas,  but  they  are 
clue  lines  by  which  we  recover  and  recognize  those 
ideas  at  will,  and  in  the  manifold  derivative  forms 
and  combinations  of  these  words  we  store  up  all 
the  modifications  and  relations  of  the  radical  fact  or 
notion  of  which  the  simple  word  is  the  symbol. 
In  the  group  or  family  of  words,  act,  acted,  acting, 
actor,  actress,  action,  actionable,  active,  actively,  ac- 
tivity, actual,  actually,  actualize,  actuality,  actuate, 
enact,  exact,  transact,  and  the  derivatives  of  these 
last  forms  what  a  volume  of  facts  and  truths  — 
of  persons,  movements,  relations,  qualities,  and 
philosophy  lies  recorded ! 

14.  The  child's  language,  then,  is  not  only  the 
measure  of  its  knowledge,  but  is  the  virtual  em- 
bodiment of  the  elements  of  that  knowledge. 
When  we  employ  in  our  teaching  the  language  of 
our  pupils,  we  summon  all  their  acquired  intelli- 
gence to  our  aid.  Each  word  flashes  its  own 
familiar  light  upon  the  new  truth  we  wish  to  ex- 
hibit. The  first  new  and  unknown  word  intro- 
duced breaks  the  electric  chain  of  thought.  A 
shadow  falls  upon  the  field  of  view,  and  the  pupils 
cease  to  work  or  grope  in  darkness.  New  words 
must  be  learned  when  new  objects  are  to  be  named 
or  new  ideas  are  to  be  symbolized  ;  but  if  care  is 
taken  that  the  idea  shall  go  before  the  word,  and 
that  the  word  is  mastered  as  a  symbol  before  it  is 


I 


The  Law  of  the  Language.  57 

used  in   speech,  it  will  illumine  and  guide  where 
otherwise  it  would  but  darken  and  delude. 

The  Language  of  Things. 

15.  Words  are  not  the  only  medium  through 
which  mind  speaks  to  mind.     The  thinker  has  a 
hundred  ways  to  express  his  thoughts.     The  eye 
talks  with  a   various  eloquence  ;   and  the   skilled 
orator  finds  in  lip  and  brow,  in  head  and  hand,  in 
the  shrugging   shoulder  and   the   stamping   foot, 
organs  for  most  intelligible  speech.     The  gestures 
of  John  B.  Gough  often  tell  more  than  the  clearest 
sentences  of  other  speakers.     A  German  described 
him  as  "the  man  what  talks  mit  his  coat-tails," 
referring  to  some  illustration  in  which  the  facile 
orator  had  made  a   flirt  of  his  coat-tails  tell  the 
idea  he  wished  to  express.     Deaf-mutes  can  talk 
together  by  the  hour  by  signs,  without  spelling  out 
a  single  word.     Among  savage  peoples  whose  lan- 
guage is  too  meager  to  meet  the  native  needs  of 
their  minds,  symbolic  actions  supply  the  lack  of 
words.     There  is  also  speech  in  pictures.     From 
the  rudest  chalk  sketch  on  the  blackboard  to  the 
highest  work  of  the  painter's  art,  no  teaching  is 
more  swift  and  impressive  than  that  of  pictorial 
representation.     The  eye  gathers  here  at  a  glance 
more  than  the  ear  could  learn   from  an   hour  of 
verbal  description. 

1 6.  Finally,  nature  aids  human  speech.     "She 
speaks  a  various   language."      Her  innumerable 


\ 


58  The  Seven  Laws  of  Teaching. 

forms  stand  always  ready  as  illustrations,  and  her 
endless  analogies  throw  light  upon  hundreds  of 
our  deepest  and  darkest  problems.  No  teaching 
was  ever  more  clear  or  instructive  than  that  of 
the  parables  of  Jesus  drawn  from  nature  around 
him. 

17.  In    ordinary   teaching,    artificial    language 
must  doubtless  be  the  chief  means  of  communica- 
tion  between   master   and   learner ;   but  no  wise 
teacher  will  forget  or  forego  the  aid  of  all  these 
various  means  of  entrance  into  the  chambers  of 
his  pupil's  understanding,  to  take  account   of  the 
knowledge  there,  and  to  guide  to  the  mastery  of 
more.     Language  is  at  best  an  imperfect  medium 
of    thought.      None   know   this    better   than   the 
experienced  teacher  who  has  tried  to  use  it  for  the 
conveyance   of    the   higher   truths    of  science    or 
religion,  and  who  has  found  himself  forced  to  seize 
upon  every  available  means  of  illustration  to  get 
himself  understood. 

1 8.  This  discussion  of   language  is  not  to  be 
interpreted  as  an  encouragement  to  the  teacher  to 
become  a  lecturer  before  his  class.     The  lecture  is 
useful  in  its  place,    but   its   place   is    small   in    a 
school  for  children.     It  will  be  shown  elsewhere 
that   a   too   talkative   teacher    is    rarely    a    good 
teacher.     A  fine  and  accurate  knowledge  of  lan- 
guage is  still  of  great  use,  for  he  who  talks  but 
little   should  talk  well,  and   he  who  must  teach* 
language  should  know  that  which  he  is  to  teach. 


The  Law  of  the  Language.  59 

Rules  for  Teachers. 

Out  of  our  Law  of  Language,  thus  defined  and 
explained,  flow  some  of  the  most  useful  rules  for 
teaching. 

1.  Study  constantly  and   carefully  the  pupil's 
language  to   learn  what  words   he   uses   and  the 
meanings  he  gives  them. 

2.  Secure  from  him  as  full  a  statement  as  pos- 
sible of  his  knowledge  of  the  subject,  to  learn  both 
his  ideas  and  his  mode  of  expressing  them,  and  to 
help  him  to  correct  his  language. 

3.  Express  your  thoughts  as  far  as  possible  in 
the  pupil's  words,  carefully  correcting  any  defect 
in  the  meaning  he  gives  them. 

4.  Use  the  simplest  and  fewest  words  that  will 
express  the  idea.     Unnecessary  words  add  to  the 
child's  work  and  increase  the  danger  of  misunder- 
standing. 

5.  Use  short  sentences,  and  of  the  simplest  con- 
struction.   Long  sentences  tire  the  attention,  while 
short  ones  both  stimulate  and  rest  the  mind.     At 
each  step  the  foot  rests  firmly  on  the  ground. 

6.  If  the  pupil  evidently  fails  to  understand  the 
thought,  repeat  it  in  other  language  and  if  possible 
with  greater  simplicity. 

7.  Help  out  the  meaning  of  the  words  by  all 
available    illustrations ;    preferring    pictures    and 
natural  objects  for  young  children. 

,     8.     When  it  is  necessary  to  teach  a  new  word, 


60  The  Seven  Laws  of  Teaching. 

give  the  idea  before  the  word.     This  is  the  order 
of  nature. 

9.  Seek  to  increase  the  pupil's  stock  of  words, 
both  in  number  and  in  the  clearness  and  extent 
of   meaning.      All  true  enlargement  of  a  child's 
language   is   increase   of    his    knowledge   and    of 
his  capacity  for  knowing. 

10.  As  the  acquisition  of  language  is  one  of 
the  most  important  objects  of  education,  be  not 
content    to    have    the    pupils    listen    in    silence, 
however  attentive  they  may  seem.     That  teacher 
is  succeeding  best  whose  pupils  talk  most  freely 
upon  the  lessons. 

11.  Here,    as    everywhere     in    teaching     the 
young,  make  haste  slowly.      Let    each   word    be 
conquered  into  use  before  it  is  displaced  by  too 
many  others. 

12.  Test  frequently  the   pupil's    sense   of  the 
words  he  uses,  to  make  sure  that  he  attaches  no 
false  meaning  and  that  he  vividly  conceives  the 
true  meaning. 

Violations  and  Mistakes. 

This  third  law  of  teaching  is  violated  more  fre- 
quently than  even  the  best  teachers  suspect. 

(i)  The  interested  look  and  the  smiling  assent 
of  the  pupil  often  cheat  the  teacher  into  the 
belief  that  his  language  is  understood,  and  all  the 
more  easily  because  the  pupil  himself  is  deceived 
and  says  he  understands,  when,  in  fact,  he  has 
caught  only  a  mere  glimpse  of  the  meaning. 


The  Law  of  the  Language.  61 

(2)  Children    are   often    entertained    with   the 
manner  of  the  teacher,  and  seem  attentive  to  his 
words  when  they  are  only  watching  his  eyes,  lips, 
or  actions.     They  sometimes  profess  to  understand 
simply  to  please  their  instructor  and  to  gain  his 
praise. 

(3)  The  misuse  of  language  is  perhaps  one  of 
the  most  common  failures   in   teaching.     Not   to 
mention  those  pretended  teachers  who  cover   up 
their  own  ignorance  or  indolence  with  a  cloud  of 
verbiage  which  they  know  the   children  will   not 
understand,  and  omitting  also  those  who  are  more 
anxious  to  exhibit  their  own  wisdom  than  to  con- 
vey knowledge  to  others,  we  find  still  some  honest 
teachers  who  labor  hard  to  make  the  lesson  clear, 
and  then  feel  that  their  duty  is  done.     If  the  chil- 
dren do  not  understand,  it  must  be  from  hopeless 
stupidity  or  from  wilful  inattention.     They  do  not 
suspect  that  they  have  used  words  which  have  no 
meaning  to  the  class  or  to  which  the  children  give 
a  meaning  differing  from  the   teacher's.      I  once 
heard  a  legislator,  who  was  also  a  preacher,  in  ad- 
dressing the  pupils  of  a  reform  school  on  the  para- 
ble of  the  Prodigal  Son,  ask  the  question  :  "  Boys, 
are  you  of  the  opinion  that  the  customary  aliments 
of  swine  are  adapted  to  the  digestive  apparatus  of 
the  genus  homo?"      An  interrogative  grunt  was 
the  only  reply. 

(4)  It  may  be  a  single  unusual  or  misunderstood 
term  that  breaks  the  electric  line ;  but  it  does  not 


62  The  Seven  Laws  of  Teaching. 

occur  to  the  teacher  to  hunt  up  the  break  and  re- 
store the  connection.  Two  adults  rarely  talk  five 
minutes  without  having  occasion  to  ask  the  sense 
of  some  word  used  or  a  restatement  of  some 
thought  advanced.  But  children  do  not  ask  expla- 
nations. Fear  of  the  teacher,  or  a  sense  of  their 
own  ignorance,  discourages  them,  and  too  often 
they  are  charged  with  stupidity  or  inattention 
when  no  amount  of  attention  would  have  helped 
them  to  understand  the  unknown  tongue. 

(5)  Even  those  teachers  who  easily  use  simple 
language  to  their   classes    frequently  fail    in    the 
higher  use  of  this  instrument  of  teaching.     They 
do  not  take  care  to  secure  from  the  child  in  return 
a  clear  statement  of   the  truth,   and    they    have, 
therefore,  no  test  of  their  success.     The  children 
do  not  talk  back. 

(6)  Very  few  teachers  appreciate  as  they  ought 
the  wonderful  character    and    complexity  of    lan- 
guage,   this    most    magnificent    product     of    the 
human  intelligence,  and  this  mightiest  agency  of 
human  advancement  and  influence.     Modern  soci- 
ety could  not  exist  without  speech ;  and  the  rich- 
est commerce  that  is  carried  on  among  men  and 
nations  is  that  which  is  freighted  in  words,  "the 
airy  navies  of  the  world."     The  English  language 
claims  over  one  hundred  thousand  words.      Few 
men  understand  more  than  twenty    thousand    of 
these,  and  the  vocabulary  of  a  child  of  ten  rarely 
contains  more  than  fifteen  hundred.     It  has  been 


The  Law  of  the  Language.  63 

found  that  the  greatest  obstacle  to  the  general 
enlightenment  of  the  common  people  lies  in  their 
lack  of  knowledge  of  the  language  through  which 
they  must  be  addressed.  A  commission  from  the 
British  Parliament  was  once  set  to  investigate  the 
language  of  the  coal-miners  and  other  laborers  of 
England,  to  ascertain  the  possibility  of  diffusing 
useful  information  among  them  by  means  of  tracts 
and  books.  It  was  found,  as  reported,  that  their 
knowledge  of  language,  in  a  large  number  of  the 
cases  examined,  was  too  meager  to  allow  of  such 
means  of  instruction.  How  much  greater  must 
be  this  deficiency  among  the  young,  whose  expe- 
rience is  less  and  whose  imperfection  of  ideas  com- 
pels vagueness  in  language !  If  we  would  teach 
children  successfully,  we  must  deepen  and  widen 
this  channel  of  communication  between  our  minds 
and  theirs. 

(7)  Most  of  the  topics  studied  in  school  lie  out- 
side the  daily  life  and  language  of  children ;  and 
every  science  has  a  language  of  its  own  which 
must  be  mastered  by  him  who  will  learn  its  truths. 
And  if  in  common  science  this  need  of  language 
is  so  great,  how  much  more  in  those  high,  spiritual 
themes  with  which  the  Sunday-school  teacher  has 
to  deal !  Religion  involves  the  grandest  facts  and 
the  sublimest  truths  known  to  the  mind  of  man ; 
but  how  are  they  dwarfed  and  distorted  by  the 
^half-understood  terms  in  which  they  are  frequently 
told !  The  Word  of  God  is  the  sword  of  the 


64  The  Seven  Laws  of  Teaching. 

Spirit ;  but  how  shall  it  make  its  way  to  heart  and 
conscience  when  wrapped  in  a  mass  of  half-con- 
cealing words  ?  To  the  teacher  of  children  in  the 
schools  of  Bible  learning,  more  than  to  any  others, 
should  come  the  warning  to  make  his  words  clear 
as  plate-glass,  luminous  as  light  itself,  sharp  as 
polished  blades,  painting  truths  as  "  apples  of  gold 
in  pictures  of  silver,"  and  stirring  the  depths  of 
the  mind  as  the  bugle  stirs  an  army. 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE   LAW   OF   THE   LESSON. 

1.  Our  fourth   law  takes   us   at   once  to  the 
center  of  the  teaching  work.     The  first  three  laws 
defined  the  teacher,  the  learner,  and  language,  the 
medium  of   communication  between   them.      We 
come  now  to  the  Lesson  —  the  truth  or  fact  to  be 
learned,  the  process  to  be  mastered,  or  the  problem 
to  be  solved  —  the  knowledge  which  the  teacher 
seeks  to  give  and  the  learner  studies  to  gain.     To 
make  the  unknown  known ;  to  give  knowledge  to 
the  pupil  as  a  personal  possession ;  to  place  it  as 
an   active  force   in  his  mind ;   to   plant  it  as  an 
inspiring  principle  in  his  heart ;   to  kindle  it   as 
a  guiding  light  in  his  understanding ;  to  make  it 
to  him  a  growing  germ  of  higher  knowledge,  an 
instrument  of  research,  a  practical  power  in  his 
life   and   work,  —  this   is   the  very   core    of    the 
teacher's  work,  the  condition  and  instrument,  as 
well  as  the  crown  and  fruitage,  of  all  the  rest. 

2.  It  is  the  Law  of  the  Lesson,  or  of  knowl- 
edge, we  are  next  to  seek.     Passing,  as  too  remote, 
all   discussion  of  the   steps   by  which   an  infant 
mind  obtains  its  first  ideas,  and  of  the  mental  pro- 
cesses by  which  our  sensations  ripen  into  true  per- 


66  The  Seven  Laws  of  Teaching. 

ceptions,  and  these  into  reflective  knowledge,  we 
go  at  once  to  the  obvious  fact  that  our  pupils 
learn  new  truths  by  the  aid  of  those  that  are  old 
and  familiar.  The  new  and  unknown  can  be 
explained  only  by  the  familiar  and  the  known. 
This,  then,  is  the  Law  of  the  Lesson :  — 

The  truth  to  be  taught  must  be  learned  through 
truth  already  known. 

3.  This  law  is  neither  so  simple  nor  so  obvious 
as  those  which  have  preceded  it ;  but  it  is  no  less 
certain  than  they,  while  its  scope  is  wider  and  its 
relations  are  more  important.     It  lies  linked  with 
the  great  system  of  nature  and  with  the  constitu- 
tion of  the  mind. 

Truth,  Ideal  and  Actual. 

4.  Truth  in  its  entirety  is  but  the  ideal  tran- 
script of  the  universe.     It  is  the  mirrored  reflec- 
tion of  all  fact  and  being  —  the  thought  and  will 
of  the  Creator  as  written  and  revealed  by  all  that 
exists,  material  and  spiritual,  with  all  their  laws, 
relations,  changes,  evolutions,  and  history.     More, 
—  the  all-truth  embraces  the  being  of  God  him- 
self. 

Truth  in  actions,  in  art,  in  objects,  in  conduct, 
and  in  character  is  only  the  correlative  of  truth 
in  ideas ;  it  is  the  conformity  of  the  actual 
to  the  true  ideal  —  the  fact  answering  to  the 
divine  law  and  purpose  of  things.  Truth  in 


The  Law  of  the  Lesson.  67 

action  —  that  is  wisdom,  that  is  the  Right  and  the 
Good. 

The  Known  and  Unknown. 

5.  Knowledge  is  truth  discovered  and  under- 
stood.    Truth  yet  hidden  in  the  depths  and  ocean 
of  the  undiscovered  is  the  Unknown.     The  Known 
is  science,  learning  —  the  revealed.     It  is  the  gold 
taken  from  the  mines  of  truth  by  human  hands 
and  wrought  into  forms  of  beauty  or  of  use,  or 
coined  into  currency  for  the  markets  of  the  world. 
The  Unknown  is  the  precious  metal  lying  hidden 
under  sea   and  land,  seen   only  by  Omniscience. 
The  Known,  to  each  individual,  is  that  truth  which 
he  has  mastered  and  made  his  own  ;  all  else  is  to 
him  the  Unknown.     Much  which  is  to  the  teacher 
knowledge  is  to  the  child  the  Unknown,  and  it  is 
to  this  Unknown  that  our  law  especially  applies. 
The  path  of  learning  to  this  must  be  constructed 
through  the  pupil's  knowledge. 

Philosophy  of  the  Law. 

6.  The  Law  of  the  Lesson  has  its  reason  in  the 
nature  of  mind  and  the  nature  of  human  knowl- 
edge. 

7.  All  teaching  must  begin  at  some  point  of 
the  subject  or  lesson.     Where  can  it  begin  but  at 
that  which  is  seen  or  known  by  the  learner  ?     If 
the  subject  is  wholly  new,  or  the  fact  to  be  taught 
is  entirely  strange,  then  a  known  point  must  be 


68  The  Seven  Laws  of  Teaching. 

sought  or  made  by  showing  some  likeness  of  the 
new  and  unknown  to  something  known  and  famil- 
iar. Even  among  grown  people  the  skillful  con- 
verser,  narrating  a  new  fact,  struggles  to  find  some 
comparison  with  familiar  objects,  and  affirms  some 
likeness  of  the  unknown  to  a  known  thing  before 
proceeding  with  his  description  or  story.  Till  this 
starting-point  in  the  familiar  is  found,  he  knows  it 
is  useless  to  go  on.  As  well  bid  one  to  follow  you 
through  a  winding  way  in  the  pitch  darkness  with- 
out first  letting  him  know  where  you  are  or  put- 
ting him  in  the  path.  If  intelligent  men  require 
this  known  starting-point  in  some  familiar  fact  or 
truth,  how  shall  the  child  be  expected  to  proceed 
without  it  ?  How  often  and  how  justly  do  children 
explain  their  seeming  stupidity  by  the  simple 
statement :  "  I  did  not  know  what  the  teacher  was 
talking  about  "  !  It  is  the  teacher,  and  not  the 
pupil,  who  is  stupid  in  such  a  case. 

8.  All  teaching  must  advance  in  some  direction. 
Whitherward  shall  it  march  but  to  that  which  is  to 
the  pupil  new  and  unknown  ?  To  teach  again  what 
is  already  known  and  understood  is  to  mock  the 
pupil's  desire  for  knowledge,  and  to  deaden  his 
power  of  attention  by  compelling  him  to  walk  the 
weary  round  of  a  treadmill,  in  place  of  leading 
him  forward  to  the  inspiration  of  new  scenes  and 
the  conquest  of  new  truths.  No  more  fatal  blow 
can  be  dealt  to  a  child's  native  love  of  learning 
than  to  confine  its  studies  too  long  to  familiar 


The  Law  of  the  Lesson.  69 

ground  under  the  fallacious  plea  of  thoroughness. 
Old  mines  may  be  reworked  if  you  can  find  ore  at 
deeper  levels,  and  old  lessons  may  be  relearned  if 
new  truth  can  be  dug  out  or  new  uses  made  of  old 
truth.  Properly  understood,  this  does  not  contra- 
dict the  law  of  the  review,  to  be  discussed  in 
another  chapter. 

9.  All  learning  must  proceed  by  some  steps. 
By  what  steps  can  it  advance  except  by  those 
which  link  one  fact  or  truth  to  another,  as  simple 
facts  lead  to  more  general  facts,  premises  conduct 
to  conclusions,  and  phenomena  come  at  last  to  the 
explaining  laws  and  reasons  ?  In  all  true  learning, 
each  new  fact  mastered  becomes  a  part  of  the 
known,  and  serves  as  a  new  starting-point  for  a 
fresh  advance.  It  adds  its  own  light  to  the  knowl- 
edge that  preceded  it,  and  throws  increased  illum- 
ination forward  for  the  next  discovery.  But  each 
step  must  be  fully  mastered  before  taking  the 
next,  else  at  the  second  step  the  pupil  will  be  mov- 
ing from  the  unknown  to  the  unknown,  and  thus 
violate  the  law.  It  is  here  that  the  demand  for 
true  thoroughness  arises ;  not  the  thorough  mas- 
tery which  a  philosopher  might  gain  of  the  lesson 
and  all  it  contains,  but  such  a  clear  understanding 
as  the  child  may  have  of  so  much  of  the  lesson  as 
a  child  can  comprehend.  Thoroughness  of  this 
sort  is  the  essential  condition  of  true  teaching. 
Imperfect  knowledge  at  any  point  casts  shadow 
rather  than  light.  The  half-known  reveals  noth- 


/O  The  Seven  Laws  of  Teaching. 

ing.  It  is  simply  disturbed  ignorance,  and  soon 
settles  again  into  complete  ignorance.  The  pupil 
who  knows  thoroughly  one  lesson,  already  half 
knows  the  next.  The  known  explains  the  nearest 
unknown,  as  the  lighted  torch  drives  back  dark- 
ness. Hence  the  well-taught  class  is  eager  for  the 
next  lesson.  They  guess  already  the  coming  truth. 
"  It  is  easy  to  add  to  what  is  already  discovered." 
This  was  one  of  the  sayings  of  Pestalozzi. 

10.  But  the  philosophy  of  this  law  goes  deeper 
still.     Knowledge  is  not  a  mass  of   simple   inde- 
pendent facts  revealed  to  the  senses ;  it  is  made  up 
of  facts  with  their  laws  and  relations.     Facts  stand 
linked  together  in  classes,  groups,  and  systems ; 
associated  by  likeness,  by  causation,  by  contact  and 
environment.     Each  fact  is  related  to  innumerable 
other  facts ;   each  truth  is  a  part  of  some  larger 
truth  which  includes  and  explains  it.     The  truths 
and  facts  known  are  but  the  seen  segments  of  the 
all-fact  and  all-truth  whose  grander  segments  are 
still  hidden  in   the  vast   unknown.     Knowledges 
are  mutually  illustrative.     Each  one  leads  to,  and 
explains,  another.     The  old  reveals  the  new ;  the 
new  confirms  and  corrects  the  old. 

11.  All  this  is  as  true  of  children's  knowledge 
as  of  riper  and  larger  sciences.     Every  new  fact 
or  truth  must  be  brought  into  connection  or  com- 
parison with  facts  and  truths  already  known  before 
it  will  fully  reveal  itself  and  take  its  place  in  the 
widening    circle   of   knowledge.     Thus   the   very 


The  Law  of  the  Lesson.  71 

nature  of  knowledge  compels  us  to  seek  the 
unknown  through  the  aid  of  the  known.  To 
know  one  thing,  we  must  know  many.  To  know 
that  an  object  is  a  flower,  the  child  must  know 
other  flowers  ;  to  know  it  as  a  rose  he  must  know 
other  roses  ;  to  know  its  petals,  calyxes,  stamens, 
and  pistils,  and  their  uses,  he  must  know  these 
organs  in  other  plants.  And  so  of  all  other 
objects  of  sense.  And  so  also  in  a  higher  degree 
of  the  objects  of  the  spiritual  sense,  the  facts  of 
mind,  of  conscience,  and  of  affection.  It  is  the 
law  of  all  knowledge  whatever.  It  is  probable 
that  this  discussion  itself  will  seem  to  some  readers 
dull,  obscure,  and  of  little  interest  or  importance 
simply  from  their  lack  of  knowledge  of  the  mental 
phenomena  and  science  necessary  to  understand 
the  statements  and  principles  here  involved. 

1 2.  The  very  act  of  knowing  is  an  act  of  com- 
paring and  judging,  and  one  of  the  terms  under 
comparison  always  belongs  to  the  known.  We 
have  no  mental  power  by  which  we  can  gain 
knowledge  otherwise.  Even  the  eye  —  that  open- 
est  of  all  the  avenues  of  intelligence  —  comes 
under  the  same  condition.  Every  object  when  first 
seen  is  strange  and  nondescript.  It  begins  to  be 
known  when  we  find  in  it  some  resemblance  to  an 
object  before  known,  and  then  we  pronounce  it  a 
stick  or  a  stone,  or  whatever  its  recognized  like- 
ness reveals  it  to  be,  and  we  know  it  better  as  we 
detect  by  fuller  comparison  more  resemblances.  If 


72  The  Seven  Laws  of  Teaching. 

a  friend  tells  us  an  experience  or  an  adventure,  we 
interpret  his  story  by  a  running  comparison  of  it 
with  whatever  has  been  most  like  it  in  our  own 
experience ;  and  if  he  states  facts  utterly  without 
likeness  to  all  we  have  known,  we  stop  him  to  ask 
explanations  or  illustrations  which  may  bring  the 
strange  facts  into  connection  with  our  knowledge 
of  things.  Tell  a  child  something  utterly  novel 
and  differing  entirely  from  all  his  former  expe- 
rience and  knowledge,  and  he  will  struggle  in  vain 
to  understand  you.  If  he  does  not  at  once  aban- 
don the  effort  as  hopeless,  he  eagerly  asks  :  '•'  What 
is  it  like?  How  does  it  look?"  and  thus  seeks  in- 
stinctively to  bring  it  under  the  light  of  facts 
already  known  to  him.  The  whole  system  of 
figures  of  speech  —  tropes,  metaphors,  similes, 
comparisons,  parables,  and  illustrative  stories  — 
has  sprung  out  of  this  law.  They  are  but  so  many 
attempts  to  reach  the  unknown  through  the 
known  —  they  seek  to  flash  some  light  from 
the  familiar  and  well-known  upon  the  strange 
or  half-known. 

The  Unknown  can  not  explain  the  Unknown. 

13.  It  is  evident  that  the  unknown  can  not  be 
explained  by  the  unknown.  The  very  notion  of 
explanation  is  the  citation  and  use  of  facts  or  prin- 
ciples already  familiar,  to  make  clear  the  nature  of 
new  facts.  The  knowledge  already  possessed 
must  furnish  the  explanation  of  all  new  facts  and 


The  Law  of  the  Lesson.  73 

phenomena,  or  they  must  remain  unexplained. 
The  difficulty  so  often  felt  in  answering  the  ques- 
tions of  little  children  lies  not  so  much  in  the 
hardness  of  the  questions  themselves,  as  in  the 
child's  lack  of  the  knowledge  required  in  the  expla* 
nation.  To  answer  fully  a  boy's  questionings 
about  the  stars,  you  must  first  teach  him  astrono^ 
my.  The  lad  who  has  seen  a  city  can  easily 
understand  a  description  of  London  or  Paris,  but 
one  whose  observation  has  been  confined  to  hia 
country  home  can  not  picture  to  himself  the  inter- 
minable  net-work  of  streets,  walled  in  by  blocks 
of  lofty  buildings  with  all  the  shifting  panorama 
of  life  and  traffic. 

14.  The  very  language  with  which  new 
knowledge  must  be  expressed  takes  all  its 
meanings  from  old  knowledge.  The  child  with- 
out knowledge  would  be  also  without  words,  for 
words  are  but  signs  of  things  known  —  of  our 
ideas  or  notions  of  things  known  to  us.  An 
American  traveler  in  Europe  fancied  he  could 
make  people  understand  him  by  speaking  with  a 
loud,  clear,  and  slow  pronunciation,  forgetting  for 
the  moment  that  his  words  had  no  meaning 
whatever  to  his  listeners.  Similar  is  the  blunder 
of  the  teacher  who  hopes  by  the  mere  urgency 
of  his  manner,  and  by  his  clear  use  of  words 
familiar  to  himself,  to  carry  his  ideas  into  the  very 
center  of  the  pupil's  understanding  without  any 
reference  to  that  pupil's  previous  knowledge  of 


74  The  Seven  Laws  of  Teaching. 

the  subject.  He  violates  a  law  of  nature  as 
inflexible  as  that  which  forbids  vision  without 
light,  hearing  without  sound,  or  feeling  withou'; 
touch. 

15.  The  mind  uses  by  preference  only  its  clear- 
est and  most  familiar  knowledge  in  the  interpreta- 
tion of  new  facts.      Each  man  borrows  his  illus- 
trations from    his    calling  :   the    soldier  from    the 
camps  and  marches,  the  sailor  from  the  ships  and 
the  sea,  the  merchant  from  the  market,  and  the 
artisan  from  his  craft.     And  so  in  the  objects  of 
study,  each  student  is  attracted   to  the  qualities 
which  relate  it  to  his  business  or  experience.     To 
the  chemist,  common  salt  is  chloride  of  sodium,  a 
binary  compound  ;  to  the  cook  it  is  a  condiment 
used  to  season  food  and   preserve   meats.     Each 
thinks  of  it  in  the  aspect  most  familiar  to  him, 
and  in  this  aspect  would  use  it  to  illustrate  any 
other  truth.     Finding  a  new  plant,  the   botanist 
would  compare  it  with  known  plants,  to  discover 
its  class  and  species ;  the  farmer  would  ask  after 
its  use,  and  the  painter  after  its  beauty.     This  bent 
of  preference  is  one  of  the  elements  of  prejudice 
which  shuts  the  eyes  to  some  truths  and  opens 
them  wide  to  others.     It  is  also  one  of  the  elements 
of  strength  in  intellectual  work. 

1 6.  A  fact  or  truth  only  partly  and  imperfectly 
known  is  used  rarely  and  reluctantly  as  a  term  in 
the  judgments  by  which  we  seek  to  discover  the 
nature  and  value  of  new  truth ;  and  if  used,  it  car 


The  Law  of  the  Lesson.  75 

ries  its  own  vagueness  and  imperfection  into  the 
new  knowledge.  A  cloud  left  upon  the  lesson  of 
yesterday  casts  its  shadow  over  the  lesson  of  to-day. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  thoroughly  mastered  lesson 
throws  its  illuminating  light  over  each  succeeding 
one.  Hence  the  value  of  that  practice  of  some 
able  teachers  who  make  the  elementary  portions 
of  a  new  study  familiar  as  household  words  —  a 
perfectly  conquered  territory  from  which  the  pupil 
may  go  on  to  new  conquests  as  from  an  established 
base,  with  the  confidence  and  power  of  a  victor. 

17.  But  it  must  be  carefully  noted  that  such  a 
conquest  of  elements,  like  all  thoroughness  in 
study,  is  relative.  No  human  knowledge  is  per- 
fect, and  the  knowledge  of  childhood  is  neces- 
sarily less  complete  than  that  of  manhood.  What 
would  be  thoroughness  in  a  child  would  be  but 
shallowness  in  a  man ;  and  there  are  wide  differ- 
ences between  men.  The  thought-pictures  of  one 
are  but  sketches  in  outline ;  those  of  another  are 
paintings  in  colors,  full  of  light  and  shades 
minutely  representing  nature  itself.  Young  teach- 
ers, uged  on  by  the  constant  exhortations  to  thor- 
oughness given  them  by  older  educators,  and  not 
reflecting  that  a  child's  knowledge  is  necessarily 
less  than  that  of  grown  men,  attempt  to  hold  their 
little  pupils  to  each  lesson  studied  till  they  know  it 
with  the  same  fulness  as  the  teacher  himself.  As 
well  ask  the  child  to  walk  with  a  man's  stride  and 
speak  with  a  man's  voice.  What  is  wanted  is  not 


76  The  Seven  Laws  of  Teaching. 

absolute  completeness  of  knowledge  as  the  book 
may  give  it,  but  clear  and  correct  thinking  and 
knowing  up  to  the  limits  within  which  the  child 
can  know  —  such  knowledge  as  the  pupil's  pre- 
vious knowledge  has  made  possible,  and  such  as 
will  serve  him  to  learn  more.  He  who  knows  little 
can  learn  little ;  he  who  knows  much  can  easily 
learn  much.  "  To  him  that  hath  shall  be  given, 
and  he  shall  have  abundantly.  From  him  that 
hath  not  shall  be  taken  away  that  which  he 
seemeth  to  have." 

Rules  for  Teachers. 

This  law  of  knowledge,  written  thus  in  the  very 
nature  of  truth,  as  also  in  the  nature  of  mind,  and 
having  therefore  a  double  testimony  to  its  verity 
and  importance,  affords  to  the  thoughtful  teacher 
rules  of  the  highest  practical  value.  Marking  the 
sole  possible  pathway  to  knowledge,  it  offers  a  clue 
of  clearest  guidance  to  him  who  will  unyieldingly 
follow  it.  The  following  rules  seem  self-evident : 

1.  Find  what  your  pupil  knows  of  the  subject 
you  wish  to  teach  —  not  of  some  text-book,  but  of 
the  facts  and  elements  of  the  subject.     This  is  his 
starting-point. 

2.  Make  the  most   of   the   pupil's   knowledge. 
Let  him  feel  its  extent  and  value  as  a  means  of 
learning  more. 

3.  Lead  him  to  clear  up  and  freshen  his  knowL 
edge  by  attempting  a  clear  statement  of  it.     This 
will  bring  him  to  the  border  of  the  unknown. 


The  Law  of  the  Lesson.  77 

4.  Begin  with  facts  which  lie  next,  and  which 
can  be  reached  by  a  single  step  from  those  already 
familiar  —  geography  with   the  visible   landscape, 
or  some  river  or  mountain  the  pupil  has  visited  - — 
history,  with  his  own  memories  —  morals,  with  his 
own  conscience. 

5.  Connect  every  lesson  as  much  as   possible 
with  former  lessons,  and  with  the  pupil's  knowl- 
edge and  experience. 

6.  Study  the  steps  so  that  one  shall  lead  natu- 
rally and  easily  to  the  next,  the  known  leading  to 
the  unknown. 

7.  Proportion  the  steps  to  the  age  and  power  of 
the  pupil,  and  make  sure  that  he  understands  fully 
the  new  truth.     Each  additional  fact,  reason,  proof, 
and  inference  may  be  treated  as  a  step.     Do  not 
discourage  the  little  one  with  too  long  lessons,  nor 
disgust  older  pupils  with   lessons   too   short   and 
easy. 

8.  Find  illustrations  in  the  most  common  and 
familiar  objects  and  facts  suitable  for  the  purpose. 
They   will   carry   their   own   familiarity   into   the 
subject. 

9.  Lead  the  pupil  to  find  fresh  illustrations  of 
the  lesson  in  something  he  has  seen  or  heard. 

10.  Make  every  new  truth  familiar  and  fix  it  in 
the  memory  for  ready  use  to  explain  other  truths. 

1 1.  Incite  the  pupil  to  use  his  knowledge  in  all 
ways  practicable,  to  find  or  explain  other  knowl- 
edge.    Teach  him  that  knowledge  gives  power  to 


78  The  Seven  Laws  of  Teaching. 

know  more ;  that  the  known  is  the  key  to  the 
unknown. 

12.  Make  every  advance  clear  and  familiar, 
else  the  next  step  may  be  from  unknown  to  un- 
known —  a  violation  of  the  law. 

These  rules  apply  to  all  kinds  of  learning :  to 
arithmetic,  grammar,  geography,  history,  and  to 
both  scientific  and  religious  knowledge ;  but  the 
teacher,  to  apply  them  wisely,  must  understand 
the  nature  of  the  knowledge  he  would  teach.  Sci- 
ence, history,  philosophy,  language,  and  religion, 
each  has  its  own  kind  of  facts,  its  own  method  of 
proof,  and  its  own  law  of  acquisition  and  use. 
Science  is  learned  chiefly  through  the  senses  or 
by  observation ;  history  is  human  experience ; 
philosophy  is  the  work  of  reason ;  language  repre- 
sents the  forms  of  thought ;  religion  belongs  to  the 
conscience,  the  heart,  the  faith  in  the  eternal  and 
the  divine.  But  whatever  the  kind  of  truth,  be  it 
science  or  Scripture,  the  unknown  must  be  reached 
through  the  known.  Some  experience  may  be 
required  to  apply  these  rules  readily ;  but  the  very 
effort  to  use  them  will  reveal  to  the  observant 
teacher  some  of  the  richest  secrets  of  the  teacher's 

art. 

Mistakes  and  Violations. 

The  wide  scope  and  profound  reach  of  this 
great  Law  of  the  Lesson  affords  room  for  many 
mistakes  and  violations.  Among  the  more  com- 
mon are  the  following :  — 


The  Law  of  the  Lesson.  79 

1.  Setting  young  pupils  to  study  strange  les- 
sons or  new  subjects  for  which  they  have  had  no 
preparation  in  previous  life  or  studies. 

2.  The    neglect    to    ascertain  with    care     the 
pupil's  knowledge    of    the   subject    before   begin- 
ning the  advance. 

3.  The  failure  to  connect  the  new  lesson  with 
the  old  in  such  a  way  that  the  pupil  shall  bring 
forward  what  he  knows  to  explain  the  new.     Les- 
sons are  too  often  given  hap-hazard  and  treated  as 
if  each  were  independent  of  all  others. 

4.  Treating  past   acquisitions    like   goods    fin- 
ished and  stored  away,  not  recognizing  that  the 
knowledge    gained     is     the  very    instrument     of 
fresh  learning. 

5.  The  common  failure    to    make    thoroughly 
familiar  the  elementary  facts  and  definitions. 

6.  The  like  failure  to   make    each    step    thor- 
oughly understood  before  taking  the  next. 

7.  The    frequent    assignment    of    lessons    too 
long  for  the  power  or  time  of  the  pupil,  compelling 
him  to  imperfect  knowledge,  which   hinders    and 
spoils  all  after-progress,  making  the  pupil  feel  as  if 
dragged  at  a  cart-tail  rather  than  as  walking  erect 
on  his  own  feet. 

8.  The  neglect  to  set   the    child    to    the    use 
of     his    knowledge   to    become    a    discoverer    of 
new  truth. 

9.  The   failure   tc   show   the    connections    of 
knowledge,  new  and  old,  and  especially-  "vith  the 
unknown  sought  for. 


8o  The  Seven  Laws  of  Teaching. 

As  a  consequence  of  these  and  other  violations 
of  this  law,  how  poor,  fragmentary,  and  fleeting  is 
much  of  the  knowledge  so  laboriously  studied ! 
How  little  of  true  knowledge  is  possessed  by  the 
people,  and  how  little  their  ability  to  get  new 
knowledge !  Instead  of  temples  of  truth  rising 
from  solid  foundations,  beautiful  in  proportions 
and  noble  in  use,  the  knowledge  of  most  men  lies 
in  little  scattered  heaps,  like  those  which  boys 
scrape  together  by  the  dusty  road-side.  Such,  too 
often,  is  the  knowledge  of  Bible  truth,  made  up  of 
scattered  texts  and  bits  of  exegesis.  The  sacred 
volume  is  never  seen  by  most  men  as  a  grand 
whole,  joined  together  by  deep  connections  and 
having  a  single  divine  and  mighty  purpose  run- 
ning through  it  all.  Instead  of  a  true  revelation 
of  God, — a  magnificent  mirror  reflecting  his  eter- 
nal grace  and  glory,  —  they  find  in  it  only  bits  of 
broken  glass  which  show  the  divine  will  and  wis- 
dom in  distorted  parts,  and  often  puzzle  where 
they  should  instruct  and  persuade. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THE  LAW  OF  THE  TEACHING  PROCESS. 

1.  Our  survey  of  the  teaching  art  has  thus  far 
taken  in  the  four  entities  involved  in  an   act    of 
teaching  :  the  Teacher,  the  Learner,  the  Language, 
and    the    Lesson.     We   are   now   to    contemplate 
these  in  motion,  and  to  study  the  distinctive  action 
of  the  teacher  and  his  pupil.     The  previous  discus- 
sions have  already  brought  these  partly  into  view  ; 
but  as  each  of  them  has  its  own  natural  law,  each 
demands  a  more  careful  discussion  than  has   yet 
been  given  it.     In  the  laws  of  the  teacher  and  the 
learner  we  found   necessarily  reflected   the   func- 
tions of  both ;  but  an  actor  and  his  act  are  easily 
separated  in  thought,  and  each  possesses  aspects 
and  characteristics  of  its  own. 

Following  the  natural  order,  the  teaching  act  or 
function  comes  first  before  us,  and  we  are  now 
to  seek  its  law.  The  law  of  the  teacher  was  a  law 
of  essential  qualification.  The  law  of  teaching  is 
a  law  of  function. 

2.  Thus  far  we  have  considered  teaching  as  the 
communication  of  knowledge ;  but  this  defines  the 
act  by  its  results.     Whether  by  telling,  showing, 
explaining,  or  setting  lessons,  the  teacher  seems 


82  The  Seven  Laws  of  Teaching. 

to  communicate  knowledge.  But  there  is  a  deeper 
and  truer  view  of  the  teacher's  work,  a  profounder 
and  more  philosophical  explanation  of  his  function. 
Behind  and  beyond  all  the  telling,  explaining,  and 
lesson-giving,  there  lies  as  the  essential  aim  of  it 
all,  and  of  all  that  the  teacher  does,  the  awakening 
and  setting  in  action  the  learner's  mind,  the  arous- 
ing of  his  self-activities,  as  they  have  been  called 
—  those  faculties  of  cognition,  imagination,  and 
reasoning  whose  action  must  always  be  voluntary 
and  self-impelled.  As  already  shown,  knowledge 
can  not  be  passed  from  mind  to  mind  like  apples 
from  one  basket  to  another,  but  must  in  every- 
case  be  re-cognized,  re-thought  by  tht^receiving  \ 
mind.  All  telling,  ex|)lami^,"  pr  other  acjs  of  so-  ti 
called  teaching  are  uselesJfexceJpt  as  they  serve  to 
excite  and  direct  the  pupil's  voluntary  mental 
powers.  If  these' are  not  put*  in  action,"  nothing' 
follows  ;  the  teacher's  words  fall  upon  deaf  ear^. 

3.  This  may  therefore  be  taken  as 

The  Law  oT  Teaching :  ^ 

Excite  and  direct  the  self-activities  of  the  learner,  «* 
and  tell  him  nothing  that  he  can  learn  himself. 

4.  The  latter  clause  is  only  a  limiting  caution 
whose  importance  is  so  great   as   to   require   its 
statement  as  part  of  the  law*    There  are  cases  in 
which  this  ca%tioia'*rnust^)e  disregarded  in  orde^to 
i&ave  •  time,  of    to    favor    a   weak    or   discoura^K 
pupil,   but  its  violation   is  always   a    loss  which 


The  Law  of  the  Teaching  Process.  83 

should  be  compensated  by  some  greater  gain. 
Taken  in  its  affirmative  form,  this  caution  would 
read :  "  Leave  the  pupil  to  discover  the  truth  for 
himself —  make  him  a  truth-finder."  The  validity 
and  value  of  this  law  have  been  too  often  and  too 
strongly  stated  to  demand  further  prooft^  No  great 

writer  on  education  has  failed  to  notice  and  enun- 
.-*  t 

ciate  it  under ^ome  form  or  other;  and  if  we  were 
seeking  for  the  educational  maxim  the  most  widely 
received  among  good  teachers,  and  the  most  ex- 
tensive in  its -applications  and  results,  we  should 
inevitably  fix  upon  this.  It  is  the  truth  recognized 
in  such  rules^as  the  following,  so  often  urged  by 
eminent  teachers  upon  beginners  :  "  Wake  up  the 
mind;"  "Set  pupils  to  thinking;"  "Arouse  the 
spirit  of  inquiry ; "  "  Get  your  pupils  to  work."  All 
these  maxims  are  but  various  expressions  of  one 
law. 

In  tracing  the  laws  of  attention,  of  language, 
and  of  knowledge,  the  mental  faculties  acting 
under  those  laws  have  necessarily  come  into  view, 
but  they  will  now  demand  a  fuller  and  more  explicit 
discussion ;  for  it  is  in  the  modes  of  mental  action 
that  we  must  seek  the 

Philosophy  of  the  Law. 

5.  We  can  learn  without  a  teacher.  Children 
learn  hundreds  of  facts  before  they  are  sent  to 
school,  sometimes  with  the  aid  of  parents  or 
others,  but  often  by  their  own  unaided  activities. 


84  The  Seven  Laws  of  Teaching. 

In  the  greater  part  of  our  acquisitions  we  are  all 
self-taught,  and  it  is  generally  conceded  that  the 
knowledge  is  most  permanent  and  best  in  use 
which  is  dug  out  by  unaided  research.  All  knowl- 
edge, at  the  outset,  must  be  learned  by  its  discov- 
erer without  an  instructor,  since  no  instructor 
knows  it.  If,  then,  we  can  learn  without  teaching, 
it  follows  that  the  true  and  only  function  of  a 
teacher  is  to  stimulate  and  help  the  learner  to  do 
what  he  might  otherwise  do  by  himself  and  with- 
out a  teacher.  Essentially  the  acquisition  of 
knowledge  must  be  made  by  the  same  faculties 
used  in  the  same  methods,  whether  with  or  with- 
out a  teacher. 

6.  What,  then,  is  the  use  of  schools,  and  what 
the  necessity  of  a  teacher  ?  The  question  is  perti- 
nent, the  answer  plain.  Knowledge  lies  in  nature 
in  scattered  facts,  mixed  and  confused ;  connected, 
it  is  true,  in  great  systems,  but  connected  by  laws 
and  relations  hidden  from  the  tyro's  vision,  and 
learned  by  mankind  only  through  ages  of  observa- 
tion. The  school  selects  for  its  curriculum  what 
it  regards  as  the  most  useful  of  nature's  truths, 
and  offers  these  with  all  the  gathered  facilities  for 
learning  them.  It  secures  to  the  learner  leisure 
and  quiet  for  study,  and  offers  in  its  books  and 
apparatus  the  results  of  the  labors  of  other  learners, 
which  may  serve  as  charts  of  the  territories  to  be 
explored,  and  as  beaten  paths  through  the  fields  of 
knowledge.  True  teaching  is  not  that  which  gives 


The  Law  of  the  Teaching  Process.  85 

knowledge,  but  that  which  stimulates  pupils  to 
gain  it.  It  may  be  said  that  he  teaches  best  who 
teaches  least ;  or,  better  still,  he  teaches  most  whose 
pupils  learn  most  without  his  teaching. 

7.  The  teacher  is  a  sympathizing  guide  whose 
familiarity  with  the  subjects  to  be  learned  enables 
him  to  direct  the  learner's  efforts,  to  save  him 
from  the  waste  of  time  and  strength,  or  needless 
or  insuperable  difficulties,  and  to  keep  him  from 
mistaking  truth  for  error.  But  no  aid  of  school 
or  teacher  can  change  nature's  modes  in  mind 
work,  or  take  from  the  learner  the  lordly  prerog- 
ative and  need  for  knowing  for  himself.  The  eye 
must  do  its  own  seeing,  the  ear  its  own  hearing, 
and  the  mind  its  own  thinking,  however  much 
may  be  done  to  furnish  objects  of  sight,  sounds 
for  the  ear,  and  ideas  for  the  intelligence.  It  is 
the  child's  own  inward  digestion  which  produces 
growth  of  body  or  mind.  "  If  childhood  is  edu- 
cated according  to  the  measure  of  its  powers,"  said 
St.  Augustine,  "  they  will  continually  grow  and  in- 
crease ;  while  if  forced  beyond  their  strength, 
they  decrease  instead  of  increasing."  The  sooner 
the  teacher  abandons  the  false  notion  that  he  can 
make  his  pupils  intelligent  by  hard  work  on  their 
passive  receptivity,  the  sooner  he  may  attain  the 
true  teacher's  art,  as  Socrates  expressed  it,  to  as- 
sist the  mind  to  shape  and  put  forth  its  own  con-j 
ceptions.  It  was  to  his  skill  in  this  that  the  great 
Athenian  owed  his  power  and  greatness  among  his 


86  The  Seven  Laws  of  Teaching. 

contemporaries,  and  gave  him  the  place  he  still 
holds  as  next  to  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  that  foremost 
among  the  great  teachers  of  mankind.  It  is  the 
"forcing  process"  in  teaching  which  separates 
learning  from  knowing.  A  boy  having  expressed 
surprise  at  the  shape  of  the  earth  when  he  was 
shown  a  globe,  was  asked :  "  Did  you  not  learn 
that  in  school  ?  "  He  replied  :  "  Yes,  I  learned  it, 
but  I  never  knew  it." 

8.  The  two  great  coordinate    aims   of    educa- 
tion are  to  acquire  knowledge  and  to  develop  power. 
Our  law  derives  its  significance  from  both  of  these 
aims.     The  pupil   must  know  for  himself,  or  his 
knowledge  will  be  knowledge  only  in  form.     The 
very  effort  required  in  the  act   of   thus    learning 
and  knowing  gives  both  vividness  to  the  knowl- 
edge  learned   and   increases  the  power  to  learn. 
Mental  toil  gives  to  the  mind  both  appetite  and 
digestive  power,  and  he  who    is    taught  without 
study,  like  him  who  is  fed  without  exercise,  will 
lose  both  appetite  and  strength. 

9.  But  the  argument  goes  deeper.     Confidence 
in   our  own   powers^  is   an   essential   condition   of 
their  successful  exercise.     This  confidence  can  be 
gained  only  by  the  self-prompted,  voluntary,  and 
independent  use  of  these  powers.     We  gain  con- 
fidence to  walk  by  walking,  not  by  seeing  others 
walk.     So  the  faith  we  need  to  feel  in  our   own 
intellect     must     come     from     the     self-controlled 
and  successful  use  of  that  intellect. 


The  Law  of  the  Teaching  Process.  87 

10.  The    self-activities    or    voluntary    mental 
powers  do   not    set    themselves  at  work  without 
some  motive  or  excitant  to  put  them   in   action. 
They  sleep  as    if  behind   closed   doors   till    some 
external  object  touches  the  senses  or  some  inter- 
nal   craving    or  emotion   stirs  the   thought.     Of 
these  two  classes   of  excitants,  the   external   are 
strongest  in  early  life,  the  internal  in  riper  years. 
To  the  young  child  the  objects  of  sense — bright 
colors,  live  animals,  and  things  in  motion  —  are 
most  attractive  and  mind-exciting.     At  the  other 
end  of  life,  the  inner  facts  of  thought  and  feeling 
most  stir   and   engage   the   powers.     The  child's 
mental  life  has  in  it  an  excess  of  sensation;  the 
old  man's  an  excess  of  reflection. 

11.  But  whatever  the  excitant  which  starts  the 
mental   powers,   the    processes   of    cognition  are 
nearly  the  same.     There  is  tl^e  comparison  of  the 
new  with  the  old,  the  alternating  analysis  and  syn- 
thesis of  parts,  wholes,  classes,  causes,  and  effects  ; 
the  reciprocal  action  of  memory  and  imagination, 
the  combinations  of  the  judgment  and  the  reason, 
and  the  various  excursions  of  thought  controlled 
by  the  tastes,  powers,  needs,  and  previous  knowl- 
edge of  each   thinker.     If  this  inner  and  volun- 
tary action  does  not  go  on,  the  teacher  has  applied 
his  external  excitants  in  vain.     He   may  wonder 
that   he  can  not    make  his  pupil  understand  and 
remember,  and  will   perhaps  impatiently  believe 
him  stupid  and  incompetent  or  idle.     The  stupid- 


88  The  Seven  Laws  of  Teaching. 

ity  is  often  on  the  other  side,  and  it  sins  against 
this  plain  law  of  teaching  in  assuming  that  the 
teacher  can  make  the  pupil  learn  by  dint  of  vigor- 
ous telling,  or  teaching  as  he  calls  it,  whereas  true 
teaching  only  brings  to  bear  upon  the  pupil's  mind 
nature's  various  excitants.  If  some  of  these  fail, 
he  must  find  others,  and  rest  not  till  he  reaches 
the  desired  result  and  sees  in  full  play  upon  the 
lesson  the  self-activities  of  the  child. 

12.  Said    Comenius,  over  two   hundred   years 
ago  :  "  Most  teachers  sow  plants  instead  of  seeds 
of  plants  ;  instead  of  proceeding  from  the  simplest 
principles,  they  introduce  the  scholar  at  once  into 
a  chaos  of  books  and  miscellaneous  studies."     The 
figure  of   the  seed  is  a  good  one,  and   is  much 
older  than    Comenius.     The  greatest  of  teachers 
said  :  "The  seed  is  the  word."     The  true  teacher 
does  but  stir  the  grgund  and  sow  the  seed.     It  is 
the  work  of  the  soil  through  its   own   forces  to 
develop  the  growth  and  ripen  the  grain. 

13.  The    difference    between    the    self-acting 
pupil  and  the  pupil  who  only  acts  when  he  is  acted 
on  is  too  obvious  to  need  description.     The  one 
acts  as  a  living  and  free  agent ;  the  other  resem- 
bles a  machine.     The  former  is  attracted  by  his 
work,  and,  prompted  by  his  own  inborn  interest, 
he  works  on  till  he  meets  some  overcoming  diffi- 
culty or  reaches  the  end  of  his  task.     The  latter 
moves  only  as  he  is  moved  upon.     He  sees  what  is 
shown  him,  hears  what  is  told,  advances  when  the 


The  Law  of  the  Teaching  Process.  89 

teacher  leads,  and  stops  just  where  and  when  the 
teaching  stops.  The  one  moves  by  self-activities, 
the  other  by  a  borrowed  impulse.  The  former  is 
a  mountain  stream  fed  by  living  springs,  the  latter 
a  ditch  filled  from  a  pump  worked  by  another's 
hand. 

Knowledge  necessary  to  Thought. 

14.  The  voluntary  action  of  every  mind  is 
limited  practically  to  the  field  of  its  acquired 
knowledge.  He  who  knows  nothing  can  not 
think :  he  has  nothing  to  think  about.  In 
comparing,  imagining,  judging,  and  reasoning, 
and  in  applying  knowledge  to  plan,  criticize, 
express,  or  execute  one's  thoughts,  the  mind  must 
necessarily  work  upon  the  material  it  possesses. 
Hence  the  power  of  any  object  or  truth  as  a 
mental  excitant  depends  in  each  case  upon  the 
number  of  related  objects  or  truths  which  the 
mind  already  knows.  A  botanist  will  be  aroused 
to  the  keenest  interest  by  the  discovery  of  a  new 
plant,  but  will  care  little  for  a  new  stone  or  star. 
The  physician  studies  eagerly  new  diseases,  the 
lawyer  new  decisions,  the  farmer  new  crops  or 
cattle,  the  mechanic  new  structures  and  machines. 
15.  The  infant  knows  little,  and  his  interest  in 
any  new  object  is  short  and  slight ;  the  man  knows 
many  things,  and  his  interest  is  deeper,  wider,  and 
more  persistent.  Thoughtfulness  deepens  and 
grows  intense  with  increase  of  knowledge.  He 


90  The  Seven  Laws  of  Teaching. 

who  studies  mathematics  long  and  deeply  never 
finds  this  study  dry  or  tiresome,  and  the  wisest 
student  of  the  Bible  finds  in  its  pages  the  highest 
delight  and  gathers  there  the  grandest  revelations 
of  supernal  truths.  All  these  varying  illustrations 
familiarly  show  the  principles  which  underlie  our 
law  and  prove  its  truth. 

Two  Excitants  of  Thought. 

1 6.  The  two  chief  springs  of  interest  through 
which  the  mind  can  be  aroused  to  a  voluntary  ex- 
ertion of  its  powers  are  the  love  of  knowledge  as 
a  mental  satisfaction,  and  the  desire  of  knowledge 
as  a  means  of  obtaining  other  satisfactions.  In 
the  former,  or  the  love  of  knowledge  for  its  own 
sake  as  it  is  sometimes  called,  are  mingled  the 
satisfaction  of  the  native  curiosity  of  the  mind 
which  craves  to  know  the  real  nature  and  causes 
of  the  phenomena  around  us,  the  solution  of  the 
unquiet  questionings  which  often  trouble  the 
spirit,  the  relief  from  apprehensions  which  igno- 
rance feels  in  the  presence  of  nature's  mysteries, 
the  sense  of  power  and  liberty  which  knowledge 
often  brings,  the  feeling  of  mental  elevation  and 
superiority  which  each  fresh  increment  of  intel- 
ligence gives,  and  the  "rejoicing  in  the  truth" 
because  of  its  own  beauty  and  sublimity,  or  its 
moral  charm  and  sweetness,  its  appeals  to  our 
taste  for  wit  and  humor,  for  the  wonderful  and 
the  beneficent.  All  these  enter  separately  or 


The  Law  of  the  Teaching  Process.  91 

together  into  the  intellectual  appetite  to  which 
the  various  forms  of  knowledge  appeal,  and  which 
gives  to  reading  and  study  their  highest  if  not 
strongest  attraction.  Each  affords  an  avenue 
through  which  the  mind  can  be  reached  and 
roused  by  the  skillful  teacher. 

17.  It  is  evident  that  this  manifold  mental  ap- 
petite must  vary  in  character  and  intensity  with 
the  tastes  and  attainments  of  pupils.     Some  love 
nature  and  her  sciences  of  observation  and  experi- 
ment ;  others  love  the  mathematics  and  delight  in 
their  problems ;  others  love  languages  and  litera- 
ture, and  others  still  history  and  the  spiritual  sci- 
ences which  deal  with  the  powers,  doings,  and 
destinies   of     mankind.      Each    special    appetite 
grows  by  feeding,  and  becomes  absorbing  as  its 
acquisitions  become  great.     The  great  masteries 
and  achievements  in  arts,  learning,  literature,  and 
science  have  come  from  these  inborn  tastes,  and 
in  all  these 

"  The  child  is  father  of  the  man." 

In  each  little  pupil  sleep  the  germs  of  such 
tastes,  —  the  coiled  springs  of  such  powers,  — 
awaiting  the  art  of  the  teacher  to  water  the  germs 
and  set  in  motion  the  springs.  The  natural  ex- 
citant of  each  appetite  is  the  offered  food  of  each. 

1 8.  The  love  of  knowledge  for  its  uses  includes 
the  desire  for  education  as  a  means  of  livelihood 
or  as  a  source  of  respectability  ;  the  felt  or  antici- 


92  The  Seven  Laws  of  Teaching. 

pated  need  of  some  special  knowledge,  as  artist, 
artisan,  lawyer,  writer,  or  other  brain-worker,  as 
well  as  the  study  made  to  win  reward  or  to  avoid 
punishment  and  disgrace.  This  indirect  desire 
for  learning  varies  with  the  character  and  aims  of 
the  pupil,  but  does  not  increase  with  attainment 
unless  it  ripens,  as  it  may,  into  the  true  love  of 
knowledge  above  described.  Its  strength  depends 
on  the  nature  and  largeness  of  the  need  which 
impels  to  study.  The  self-activities  aroused  for 
such  study  go  to  a  self-imposed  task  and  are  little 
likely  to  continue  their  work  after  the  task  is 
done.  The  rewards  and  punishments  used  in 
school  to  promote  lesson-getting  have  just  this 
force  and  no  more.  They  inspire  no  generous  ac- 
tivity which  works  for  the  love  of  the  work  and 
which  pauses  not  when  its  appointed  lesson  is 
learned.  If  the  study  they  induce  shall  become 
transfigured  into  a  true  love  of  knowledge,  then 
the  violence  they  do  to  the  pupil's  mind  may  be 
forgotten ;  but  in  most  cases  they  sow  disgust  in 
place  of  generous  desire  and  make  all  high  edu- 
cation harder,  if  not  impossible.  Witness  the 
spirit  that  pervades  every  school  so  taught 
and  managed. 

The  Moral  Intellect. 

19.  Our  whole  discussion  thus  far  has  taken 
for  granted  the  intimate  and  indissoluble  connec- 
tion of  the  intellect  and  the  sensibilities  —  the  in- 


The  Law  of  the  Teaching  Process.  93 

separable  union  of  thought  and  feeling.  To  think 
without  feeling  would  be  thinking  with  a  total  in- 
difference to  the  object  of  thought,  which  would 
be  absurd ;  and  to  feel  without  thinking  would  be 
to  feel  without  knowing  that  we  feel,  which  is 
impossible.  Now,  as  most  of  the  objects  of 
thought  are  objects  also  of  desire  or  dislike,  and 
therefore  objects  of  choice,  it  follows  that  all  im- 
portant action  of  the  intellect  has  a  moral  side  or 
quality ;  and  this,  too,  has  been  assumed  through- 
out this  volume.  This  moral  side  of  the  intelli- 
gence may  be  called  the  Moral  Intellect,  the 
intellect  working  in  the  field  of  the  moral  life. 
The  love  of  knowledge  for  itself  or  its  uses  is 
moral  at  bottom,  as  it  implies  moral  affections 
and  purposes  of  good  or  evil.  All  motives  of 
study  have  a  moral  character  or  connection,  at 
their  first  or  second  step  ;  and  hence  no  education 
or  teaching  can  be  absolutely  divorced  from 
morals.  The  affections  and  conscience  always 
come  to  school  with  the  intellect. 

20.  But  the  Moral  Intellect,  or  cognitive  con- 
science as  we  may  call  it,  finds  its  fuller  sphere  in 
the  recognized  domain  of  duty  —  the  higher  realm 
of  the  affections,  the  virtues,  and  religion.  From 
these  the  mind  borrows  its  highest  and  strongest 
incentives  to  study  and  its  clearest  light  in  under- 
standing. Let  the  teacher  constantly  address  the 
moral  nature  and  stimulate  the  moral  sentiments, 
if  he  wishes  to  achieve  the  highest  success  possi- 
ble for  him. 


94  The  Seven  Laws  of  Teaching. 

21.  This  moral  teaching  was  the  chief  excel- 
lency of  Pestalozzi's  work,  and  it  is  the  leading 
characteristic  <)f  every  great  teacher  of  mankind. 
He  who  would  get  from  the  mind  of  his  pupil  its 
highest  and  most  heroic  efforts  must  appeal  to  its 
noblest  sentiments,  —  its  love  of  God,  of  its  coun- 
try, and  its  fellows,  —  its  personal  aspirations  for 
a  noble,  useful,  and  beneficent  life,  —  its  love  for 
truth  and    goodness    and    its    purest    hopes    of 
heaven.     If  these  sentiments  are  feeble  or  want- 
ing, the  teacher  must  build  them  up,  or  he  will 
fail  in  his  work. 

The  Power  of  the  Sunday-school. 

22.  The  Sunday-school  ought  to  be  the  best 
and  most  successful  of  all  schools,  because  it  is 
openly,  freely,  and  fearlessly  religious.     The  whole 
moral  and  religious  nature  of  the  child  is  open  to 
its  work.     Its  education  ought  therefore  to  domi- 
nate, inspire,  and  consecrate  all  other  education. 

23.  Through  the    Sunday-school,   Christianity 
is  free  to  pour  its  faith  into  all    other   schools. 
Standing  as  it  does  on  the  moral  and  social  hill-top 
of  the  week,  it  should  be  able  to  throw  its  light 
along  all  the  path  of   the  children's  daily  work 
and  studies. 

24.  So  soon  as    the    Sunday-school    becomes 
strong  enough  and  skillful  enough  in    its  teach- 
ings, it  will  color  and  control  all  learning  with   its 
pwn  higher  ideas  and  hopes.     The  true  interests 


The  Law  of  the  Teaching  Process.  95 

of  mankind,  as  well  as  the  progress  and  final  suc- 
cess of  Christianity  itself,  demand  that  this  shall 
be  done.  Science  will  cease  to  be  infidel  or  scep- 
tic when  its  students  shall  be  good  Bible  scholars. 
Witness  Newton,  Hugh  Miller,  Agassiz,  and  Dana, 
second  to  none  as  scientists,  but  never  sceptic, 
because  trained  in  religious  knowledge. 

The  Mind  does  its  Own  Work. 

25.  It  follows  from  all  this  that  only  when  the 
mental  powers  work  free  and  in  their  own  way 
can  the  product  be  sure  or  permanent.  No  one 
can  know  what  any  mind  contains,  or  what  labor 
it  performs,  save  as  that  mind  imperfectly  reveals 
it  by  words  or  acts,  or  as  we  conjecture  it  by 
reflecting  on  our  own  conscious  experience. 
Into  the  sealed  workshop  of  the  soul  no  spectator 
enters.  What  the  occupant  does  there  no  one  but 
himself  can  tell.  Working  by  his  own  light  on 
materials  furnished  by  his  own  senses  and  gath- 
ered by  his  own  intelligence,  it  is  his  to  mould, 
shape,  combine,  and  construct  as  he  will.  Just)  as 
the  digestive  organs  must  do  their  own  work, 
masticating  and  digesting  whatever  food  they  can 
get,  selecting,  secreting,  assimilating,  and  so  build- 
ing bone,  muscle,  brain,  nerve,  skin,  and  all  the 
various  tissues  and  organs  of  the  body;  so,  too, 
in  the  last  resort,  the  mental  faculties  must  do 
theirs,  without  external  aid,  building  as  they 
can,  opinions,  beliefs,  purposes,  faiths,  and  all 


96  The  Seven  Laws  of  Teaching. 

the    forms     of    intelligence    and    character.     As 
Milton  expressed  it :  — 

"  The  mind  is  its  own  place,  and  in  itself 
Can  make  a  heaven  of  hell,  a  hell  of  heaven." 

26.  If  I  thus  emphasize  the  fact  of  each  mind's 
autocracy,  it  is  not  to  belittle  the  teacher's  work, 
but  to  show  more  clearly  the  law  which  gives  that 
work  all  its  force  and  dignity.     It  is  the  teacher's 
mission  to  stand  at  the   impassable  gate-ways  of 
young  souls,  a  wiser  and  stronger  soul  than  they, 
serving  as  a  herald  of   science,  a  guide   through 
nature,  to  summon  the  faculties  within   to    their 
work,  to  place  before  them  the  facts  to  be  ob- 
served, and  to  guide  them   to   the   paths  to    be 
trodden.     It  is  his  by  sympathy,  by  example,  and 
by  every  means  of  influence  —  by  objects  for  the 
senses,  by  facts  for  the  intelligence,  by  pictures 
for  the  imagination,  by  stories  for  the  fancy  and 
the  heart,  to  excite  the  mind,  stir  the  curiosity, 
stimulate  the  thoughts,  and  send  them  forth  as 
warriors,  armed  and  eager  for  the  conflict.     Every 
thoughtful  and  observant  teacher  has  had  occa- 
sion  to  note  the  various    and    original   ways   in 
which  different  pupils  will  reach   the   answer   to 
a  question,  or  other  mental  result,  when  left   to 
themselves. 

27.  The  cautionary  clause  of    our  law  which 
forbids   giving  too  much  help  to    pupils  will    be 
needless  to  the  teacher  who  clearly  sees  his  proper 


The  Law  of  the  Teaching  Process.  97 

work,  and  who  is  eager  only  to  get  his  pupil's 
mind  into  free  and  vigorous  action.  Like  a  skill- 
ful engineer  who  knows  the  power  of  his  engine, 
he  chooses  to  stand  and  watch  the  play  of  the 
splendid  machine  and  marvel*  at  the  ease  and  vigor 
of  its  movements.  It  is  only  the  unskillful  and 
self-seeking  teacher  who  prefers  to  hear  his  own 
voice  in  endless  talk,  rather  than  watch  the  work- 
ing of  his  pupil's  thoughts. 

28.  There  is  no  real  disagreement  between 
this  law  and  the  first  and  third,  which  so  strongly 
insist  on  the  teacher's  knowledge  of  his  subject 
and  on  his  use  of  familiar  language.  Only 
through  his  own  full  knowledge  of  the  subject 
can  he  understand  the  difficulties  met  by  the 
pupil,  or  be  able  to  determine  when  the  pupil  has 
mastered  the  lesson,  and  to  follow  it  with  thorough 
drills  and  reviews.  As  well  insist  that  a  general 
need  know  nothing  of  a  battle-field  because  he  is 
not  to  do  the  actual  fighting,  as  that  a  teacher 
may  get  on  with  slight  knowledge  because  his 
pupils  must  do  the  studying.  Besides,  there  are 
some  exceptions  to  the  rule  to  tell  the  pupil 
nothing  which  he  can  discover  for  himself.  There 
come  occasions  when  the  teacher  may,  for  a  few 
minutes,  turn  lecturer  or  preacher,  and  before  a 
class  well  prepared  to  receive  it  may,  from  the 
stores  of  his  own  riper  studies,  give  them  broader, 
richer,  and  clearer  views  of  the  field  of  their  work 
He  may,  for  a  little,  lift  the  child  to  his  own 


98  The  Seven  Laws  of  Teaching. 

strong  shoulders  to  give  it  a  clearer  view  of  the 
path  it  has  traveled,  or  an  inspiring  and  guiding 
glimpse  of  the  roadway  yet  to  come ;  only  he 
must  take  care  not  to  substitute  telling  for  true 
teaching,  and  thus  encourage  lazy  listening  where 
he  needs  to  call  for  earnest  work. 

Questions  as  Excitants. 

29.  The  chief  excitants  which  nature  uses  to 
stir  the  minds  of  men  have  already  been  noticed. 
They  might  all  be  described  as  the  silent  but 
ceaseless  questions  which  the  universe  addresses 
to  the  spirit  of  man.  The  strange  and  endless 
questionings  which  an  active  child  presses  upon 
its  often  wearied  parents  are  but  the  echoes  of 
those  which  nature  presses  upon  its  young  intel- 
lect. The  true  stimulant  of  the  human  mind  is 
a  question,  and  the  object  or  event  that  does  not 
raise  any  question  will  stir  no  thought.  QuesA 
tioning  is  not,  therefore,  merely  one  of  the  modes  ) 
of  teaching,  it  is  the  whole  of  teaching;  it  is 
the  excitation  of  the  self-activities  to  their  work 
of  discovering  truth,  learning  facts,  knowing  the 
unknown.  \  Nature  always  teaches  thus.  But  it 
is  not  necessary  that  every  question  shall  be  in 
the  interrogative  form.  The  strongest  and  clear- 
est affirmation  may  have  all  the  effect  of  the 
sharpest  interrogation,  if  the  mind  be  sufficiently 
aroused  to  so  receive  it.  An  explanation  may  be 
so  given  as  to  raise  new  questions  while  it 
answers  old  ones. 


The  Law  of  the  Teaching  Process.  99 

30.  The   explanation   that  settles  every  thing 
and  ends  all  questions,  ends  also  all  thinking ;  on 
that  subject  at  least  for  the  time  and  in  that  direc- 
tion.   After  a  truth  is  clearly  understood,  or  a  fact 
is  established,  there  still  remain  its  consequences, 
applications,  and  uses  to  be  inquired  into.     And 
each  fact  and  truth  thoroughly  studied  leads    us 
into  the  presence  of  other  facts  and  truths,  which 
renew  the  questionings  and  demand  fresh  inves- 
tigations.     The    thoroughly    alert    and    scientific 
mind  is  one  that  never  ceases   to   ask    questions 
and  seek  answers.      The   scientific    spirit    is    the 
spirit  of  tireless  inquiry  and   investigation.     The 
nineteenth   century,  which   so  far    excels    all    its 
predecessors  in  the  extent  of  its  sciences  and  arts, 
excels  them  also  in  the  number  and  reach  of  its 
questionings.     It  is  above  all  others  the  century 
of  great  questions. 

31.  And  as  with  the  world,  so  with  the  child: 
his  intellectual  education  fairly  begins  so  soon  as 
he  commences  earnestly  to  ask  questions.     It  is 
only  when  the  questioning  spirit  has   been   fully 
awakened,  and   the    power   and    habit  of   raising 
questions  have  been  largely  developed,  that   the 
teaching  process  may  give  way  to  the  lecture  plan, 
and  the  student  may  be  turned  into  the  listener. 
The  truth  asks  its  own  questions  so  soon  as  the 
mind  is  sufficiently  awake.     The  falling  apple  had 
the  question  of  universal  gravitation  in  it  for  the 
mind  of  Newton ;  and  the  boiling  tea-kettle  pro- 


loo  The  Seven  Laws  of  Teaching. 

pounded  to  James  Watt  the  problem  of  a  steam- 
engine. 

Rules  for  Teachers. 

Like   our   other   laws,   this  one    also    suggests 
some  practical  rules  for  teaching. 

1.  Adapt  lessons  to  the  ages  and  tastes  of  the 
children.      Young   pupils    will    be    interested    in 
whatever  appeals  to  the  senses ;  only  the  mature 
minds   will    enter    heartily   into    the    truths    of 
reason  and  reflection. 

2.  Select  lessons  which  relate  to  the  present 
circumstances  and  wants  of  pupils.     The  mind  is 
already  awake  for  these.     The   story  of    Lazarus 
will  easily  engage  the  attention  of  one  who   has 
just  lost  a  friend,  or  been  to  a  funeral. 

3.  Consider     carefully  the    subject    and    the 
lesson  to  be  taught,  and  find  its  points  of  interest 
for  your  own  pupils. 

4.  Excite  the    pupil's    interest    in    the    lesson 
when  it   is   given    out,  by  some    question    or    by 
some  statement  which  will  awaken  inquiry.     Hint 
that  something  worth  knowing  is  to  be  found  out 
if  the  lesson  is  thoroughly  studied,  and  be    sure 
to  ask  for  the  truth  discovered. 

5.  Place  yourself    frequently    in    the    position 
of  a  pupil  among  pupils,  and  join  in  the  search 
for  some  fact  or  truth,  or  for  the  meaning   of  a 
text. 

6.  Repress  the  impatience  which  can  not  wait 
for  the  pupil  to  explain  himself,  and  which  takes 


The  Law  of  the  Teaching  Process.          101 

the  words  out  of  his  mouth.  He  will  resent  it, 
and  tell  his  comrades,  if  not  you,  that  he  could 
have  answered  if  you  had  given  him  time. 

7.  In  all  class  exercises    aim    to    excite    con- 
stantly fresh  interest  and    activity.     Start    ques- 
tions for  the  pupils  to  investigate  out  of  the  class. 
The  lesson  that  does  not  end  in  fresh  questionings 
ends  wrong. 

8.  Observe  each  pupil  to  see  that  his  mind  is 
neither  so  wandering  nor  weary  as  to  forbid   its 
activities  being  bent  to  the  lesson  in  hand. 

9.  Count    it   your   chief    duty   to    "wake    up 
mind,"    and   rest    not    till    each   pupil    shows   his 
mental  activity  by  asking  questions  in  turn. 

10.  Repress  the  desire   to  tell  all  you  know 
or  think  upon  the  lesson  or  subject;  and  if  you 
tell  something  to  illustrate  or  explain,  let  it  start 
a  fresh  question. 

11.  Give  the  pupil  time  to  think,  after  you  are 
sure  his  mind  is  actively  at  work,  and  encourage 
him  to  ask  questions  when  puzzled. 

12.  Do  not  answer  too  promptly  the  questions 
asked,  but   restate   them,   to   give   them    greater 
force  and  breadth,   and  often  answer  with    new 
questions  to  secure  deeper  thought. 

13.  Teach  pupils  to  ask    What?     Why?   and 
How?  —  the  nature,  cause,  and  method  of  every 
fact  observed  or  told  them  ;  also  Where  ?    When  ? 
By  whom?   and    What  of  it?  —  the  place,  time, 
actors,  and  consequences  of  events. 


IO2  The  Seven  Laws  of  Teaching. 

14.  Recitations  should  not  exhaust  a  subject, 
but  leave  work  on  hand  for  the  class  to  think  out. 

Violations  and  Mistakes. 

Many  a  teacher  neglecting  these  plain  rules 
kills  all  interest  in  his  class,  and  wonders  how 
he  did  it. 

(1)  The  chief  and  almost  constant  violation  of 
this  law  of  teaching  is  the  attempt  to  force  lessons 
into  pupils'  minds  by  simply  telling.     "  I  have  told 
you  ten  times,  and  yet  you  don't  know! "  exclaimed 
a  teacher  of  this  sort.     Poor  teacher,  can  you  not 
remember  that  knowing  comes    by  thinking,  not 
by  telling  ?     Better  the  school  tyrant  who  whips 
his  pupils  into  learning   their   own   lessons  than 
a  teacher  who  tells  them  all. 

(2)  It     is    another    mistake     to    complain    of 
memory  for  not  keeping  what  it  never  fairly  held. 
The  only  cure  for  a  bad  memory  is  to  mix  more 
thinking  in  one's  learning.     The  fact  that  is  seen 
or  read  without  thought  will  be  forgotten  in    an 
hour;  but    think   deeply   about    a    fact    for    ten 
minutes,  and  the  chances  are  that  it  will  be  fresh 
in  memory  ten  years  later. 

(3)  A  third  violation  of  the  law  comes  from  the 
hurry  which  leads  teachers  to  require  prompt  and 
rapid  recitations  in  the  very  words  of  the  book  ; 
and,  if  a  question  is  asked  in  the  class,  to  refuse 
the  pupils  time  to  think.     If  the  pupil  hesitates 
and  stops  for  lack  of  thought,  or   from   fault   of 


The  Law  of  the  Teaching  Process.          103 

memory,  which  is  also  lack  of  thought,  the  evil 
lies  in  yesterday's  teaching  which  shows  its  fruit 
to-day ;  but  if  it  comes  from  the  slowness  of  the 
pupil's  thinking,  or  from  the  real  difficulty  of  the 
subject,  then  time  should  be  given  for  thought ; 
and,  if  the  lesson -hour  will  not  allow  it,  let  the 
answer  go  over  to  the  morrow. 

It  is  to  this  hurried  and  unthinking  lesson-say- 
ing that  we  owe  the  superficial  and  impractical 
character  of  so  much  of  our  school  learning.  For 
the  noble  advice  of  Paul,  to  "read,  mark,  learn, 
and  inwardly  digest  "  the  truth,  we  have  substi- 
tuted the  rule,  "  Learn  so  as  to  recite  promptly." 
Thus  the  word  remains  "  unmixed  with  faith  in 
those  who  have  it,"  and  it  is  as  the  seed  sown  by 
the  way-side,  which  the  birds  snatch  away.  If  these 
are  bad  faults  in  our  day-schools,  how  much  more 
serious  in  the  Bible-schools,  where  the  truths 
studied  are  wider  and  grander  in  themselves,  and 
where  the  lessons  have  their  great  use  in  theif 
applications  to  the  mind,  heart,  and  conscience  of 
the  learner.  If  it  is  true  that  there  resides  in 
God's  Word  power  to  convert  the  soul,  to  purify 
the  life,  to  make  wise  the  simple,  and  to  judge  the 
world,  how  inexcusable  the  folly  of  the  teaching 
which  leaves  its  truths  unknown,  and  sheathes  its 
sharp  and  glittering  blade  in  the  scabbard  of  a 
text  familiar  to  the  ear  but  shut  to  the  understand- 
ing and  the  heart ! 

How  different  is  the  result  where   this    great 


1O4  The  Seven  Laws  of  Teaching. 

law  of  teaching  is  understood  and  obeyed !  The 
stimulated  activities  make  the  scene  radiant  as 
with  flashing  light.  The  school-room  is  trans- 
formed under  their  power  into  a  busy  laboratory 
of  thought  and  emotion.  The  pupils  become 
thinkers  —  discoverers.  They  master  great 
truths,  and  apply  them  to  the  questions  of 
life  and  duty.  They  invade  new  fields  of  knowl- 
edge. The  teacher  does  but  lead  the  march. 
Their  reconnoissance  becomes  a  conquest.  Skill 
and  power  grow  with  their  exercise.  Mind 
awakens  to  its  high  birthright,  and  the  scholar 
of  the  school-time  becomes  the  student  of  a 
life-time. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE    LAW  OF   THE    LEARNING 
PROCESS. 

1.  We  must  now  pass  again  from  the  side  of 
the  teacher  to  the  side   of   the   learner.     It   has 
been  seen  that  the  teacher's  work  consists  essen- 
tially in  arousing  and   guiding   the    self-activities 
of    the    pupil.      The    pupil's    work,    which    now 
demands  study,  is  the  use  of  those  self-activities 
in  getting  his  lesson.     The  laws  of  teaching  and 
learning  may  seem  at  first  to  be  only  different 
aspects  of  the  same  law,  but  they  are  quite  dis- 
tinct—  the   one   applying    to    the   work    of    the 
instructor,  the   other  to   that   of   the    instructed. 
The  law  of  the  teaching  process  involves  the  means 
by  which  the  self-activities  are  to  be  awakened  ; 
the   law  of   the    learning  process   determines    the 
manner   in    which   these   activities    shall    be    em- 
ployed. 

2.  If  we  watch  again  a  child  at  his  studies,  and 
mark  carefully  what  he  is  to  do,  we  shall  easily 
see  that  it  is  not  merely  an  effort  of  the  attention, 
nor  a  vague  and  aimless  exertion  of   his    mental 
powers,  that  is  required  of  him.     There  is  a  clear 
and  distinct  act  or  process  which  we  wish    him 
to  accomplish.     It  is  to  form  in   his   own   mind, 


io6  The  Seven  Laws  of  Teaching. 

by  the  use  of  his  own  powers,  a  complete  and 
truthful  conception  or  notion  of  the  facts  and 
truths  in  the  lesson,  in  all  their  parts,  relations, 
proofs,  and  applications.  This  is  the  result  to 
which  all  efforts  of  teacher  and  learner  must  be 
bent.  The  Law  of  the  Learning  Process  may 
therefore  be  stated  thus  :  — 

The  learner  must  reproduce  in  his  own  mind  the 
truth  to  be  acquired. 

3.  The  laws  before  discussed  have   addressed 
themselves   chiefly   to   the   teacher :    this    comes 
home  also  to  the  learner.     It    brings    into    sight 
the  principles  which  must  guide  the   student    in 
his  studies,  and  which  it  is  the  business   of  the 
instructor  to  emphasize  and  enforce.     While  tell- 
ing the  teacher   how  to   teach,  it   also   tells   the 
learner   how   to   learn.     This   will    appear    more 
clearly  in  the  discussion  which  follows. 

The  Philosophy  of  the  Law. 

4.  As  that  is  not  true  teaching  which  simply 
pours  out  before  the  pupil  the  treasures  of  the 
teacher's  knowledge,  so  that  is  not  true  learning 
which  merely  memorizes  and  repeats  the  teacher's 
words  and  ideas.     Vastly  more  than  is  commonly 
understood   or   believed,   the  work   of   education, 
of  acquiring  knowledge,  is  the  work  of  the  pupil 
and    not   that   of    the   teacher.     This   truth    has 
already  been  affirmed  in   other   connections.     It 


The  Law  of  the  Learning  Process.          107 

is  reaffirmed  here  as  the  fundamental  notion  in 
the  present  discussion.  Learning  is  the  formation 
by  the  learner  in  his  own  mind  of  the  conceptions 
contained  in  the  lesson  learned. 

5.  We  must  distinguish  between  the  original 
discovery   of   a   truth   and   the   learning   it   from 
others.     Discovery  is  made  by  processes  of  inves- 
tigation which  are  commonly  slow,  tentative,  and 
laborious.     Learning  comes  by  processes  of  inter- 
pretation, which  are  often  easy  and  rapid.     Still 
there  is    much  in    common.     The   learner   redis- 
covers in  part  the  truth  he  learns.     No  discovered 
truth  is  wholly  new.     No  true  learning  is  wholly 
a  repetition  of   other  men's   thoughts.     The   dis- 
coverer borrows  largely  of  truths  known  to  others ; 
the   student   must    add   much   to   the   lesson    he 
studies.     His  constant  aim  should  be  to  rise  from 
being  a  learner  at  other  men's   feet,    to   become 
an   independent    searcher   of    truth    for    himself. 
Both  discoverer  and  learner  must  alike  be  truth- 
seekers.     Both  must  aim  to  gain  clear  and  distinct 
conceptions  of   it.     Both  must    needs   employ  in 
their  work   the   truths  already  familiar  to    them, 
and  both  must  put  their  learning  to  use,  to  find 
its  full  power  and  value.     It  is  indispensable  that 
the  learner  shall  become  an  investigator. 

6.  Learning   has    several    stages    of    progress 
which  need  to  be  carefully  noticed  in  order  that 
the  full  meaning   of  the   law  shall   be   seen   and 
understood.     They  are  the  following  :  — 


Io8  The  Seven  Laws  of  Teaching. 

First.  A  pupil  may  be  said  to  have  learned  his 
lesson  when  he  has  committed  it  to  memory,  and 
can  recite  it  word  for  word.  This  is  all  that  is 
attempted  by  many  pupils,  or  required  by  those 
teachers  who  count  their  work  well  done  if  they 
can  secure  such  verbatim  recitations.  Education 
would  be  cheap  if  such  learning  could  be  made  to 
stay;  but  it  passes  away  like  the  images  from  a 
mirror,  unless  fixed  by  almost  endless  repetitions. 

Second.  It  is  an  evident  advance  over  the  mem- 
orizing of  words  when  the  pupil  adds  a  clear 
understanding  of  the  thought.  So  much  better  is 
this  learning  than  the  other  that  thoughtful  teach- 
ers are  tempted  to  say  to  their  pupils  :  "  I  do  not 
care  for  the  words  of  the  lesson ;  give  me  the 
thought."  But  in  many  cases,  especially  in  Bible 
lessons,  it  is  important  to  know  and  remember  the 
very  words. 

Third.  It  is  a  higher  stage  in  study  when  the 
thought  is  so  mastered  and  measured,  as  it  were, 
that  the  pupil  can  translate  it  accurately  into 
other  words  with  no  loss  of  meaning.  He  who 
can  do  this  has  advanced  beyond  the  mere  work  of 
learning,  and  has  begun  the  work  of  discovering. 
He  is  dealing  not  merely  with  another's  thought 
of  the  truth,  but  with  the  truth  itself.  The  wise 
teacher  will  recognize  this,  and  will  pardon  the 
crudeness  in  expression,  while  he  encourages  the 
pupil  to  more  accurate  thinking  as  a  means  to 
more  correct  language. 


The  Law  of  the  Learning  Process.          109 

Fourth.  The  learner  shows  higher  work  still 
when  he  begins  to  seek  the  evidences  of  the 
statements  which  he  studies.  He  who  can  give 
a  reason  for  the  faith  which  is  in  him  is  a  much 
better  learner,  as  well  as  stronger  believer,  than 
the  man  who  believes,  he  knows  not  why.  The 
true  investigator  seeks  proofs,  and  a  large  part  of 
the  work  of  a  student  of  nature  is  to  prove  the 
truths  which  he  discovers.  So  also  ought  the 
Bible  student  to  " search  the  Scriptures"  to  see 
for  himself  if  these  things  are  so.  Even  the 
youngest  learner  takes  a  stronger  hold  of  the 
truth  if  he  can  see  a  reason  for  it.  In  hunting 
for  proofs,  the  student  comes  in  sight  of  a  hun- 
dred other  truths,  just  as  one  who  climbs  a  moun- 
tain finds  the  landscape  always  widening  around 
him.  The  little  lesson  he  is  learning  is  seen  to  be 
a  part  of  the  great  empire  of  the  all-truth ;  its 
truth  grows  clearer  in  the  reflected  light  of  other 
truths,  and  the  heart,  like  that  of  the  mountain 
traveler,  revels  in  the  splendid  outlook  and  in  the 
consciousness  of  growing  power. 

Fifth.  But  there  is  a  still  higher  and  more 
fruitful  stage  in  learning.  It  is  found  in  the  study 
of  the  uses  and  applications  of  knowledge.  No 
lesson  is  learned  to  its  full  and  rich  ending  till  it 
is  traced  to  its  connections  with  the  great  working 
machinery  of  nature  and  of  life.  Nature  is  not 
an  idle  show,  nor  is  the  Bible  a  mass  of  old  wives' 
fables.  Every  fact  has  its  uses,  and  every  truth 


1 1  o  The  Seven  Laws  of  Teaching. 

its  applications,  and  till  these  are  found  the  les- 
son lies  idle  and  useless  as  a  wheel  out  of  gear 
with  its  fellows  "in  the  busy  machinery.  The  prac- 
tical relations  of  truth,  and  the  forces  which  lie 
hid  behind  all  facts,  are  never  really  understood 
till  we  apply  our  knowledge  to  some  of  the  practi- 
cal purposes  of  life  and  thought.  The  boy  who 
finds  a  use  for  his  lesson  becomes  doubly  inter- 
ested and  successful  in  his  studies.  What  was 
idle  knowledge,  only  half  understood,  becomes 
practical  wisdom  full  of  zest  and  power.  Espe- 
cially is  this  true  of  Bible  knowledge,  whose 
superficial  study  is  of  slight  effect,  but  whose  pro- 
founder  learning  changes  the  whole  man.  "  The 
letter  killeth  ;  the  spirit  giveth  life." 

7.  No  learning  is  complete  till  these  five  stages 
are  passed.     They  are  like  five  windows  of  increas 
ing  size,  each  of   which  pours  its    fuller  light   in 
succession    upon    the    lesson.     The    first    shows 
it    in    dim    outline    only,  like   an    object    seen   at 
twilight   without    distinctness    of    form    or   color. 
The  others  give  increasing  clearness  to  the  view, 
till  the  gathered  illumination  of  them  all  makes 
the  truth  to  stand  forth  in  all  its  grandeur  and 
beauty,  a  landscape  complete  and  rich,  in  colors, 
forms,  and  life.     Such  is  the  reproduction  of  the 
lesson  which  our  law  demands,  and  to  this  must 
the  efforts  of  teacher  and  pupil  be  steadily  bent. 

8.  The  earnest  student  will  find  in  these  five 
stages   of   study  the   clearest   directions   for   the 


The  Law  of  the  Learning  Process.          i  1 1 

work  he  has  to  do.  Let  him  ask  himself:  (i) 
VWhat  does  the  lesson  say,  word  for  word?  (2) 
Exactly  what  does  it  mean  ?  (3)  How  express 
this  meaning  in  my  own  language  ?  (4)  Is  the 
lesson  true ;  in  what  sense  and  why  ?  (5)  What 
is  the  good  of  it — how  apply  and  use  the  knowl- 
edge it  gives  ?  It  is  along  these  five  steps  that 
the  learner  must  mount,  if  at  all,  to  a  broad  and 
clear  conception  of  the  full  significance  and  value 
of  the  truth  learned. 

9.  It  is  true  that  not  many  lessons  are  learned 
with  this  comprehensive  thoroughness,  and  it  may 
be  that  only  the  briefest  and  simplest  lessons  can 
be  so  mastered  at  a  single  sitting ;  but  this  does 
not  change  the  fact  that  no  lesson  can  be  counted 
as  fully  learned  till  so  mastered  and  understood. 
Better  one  subject  so  learned  than  a  whole  curric- 
ulum   skimmed  with   lighter   study.     "  Better   to 
know  one  thing  than  not   to    know  a    hundred." 
"It  is  worth  more,"  said  the  wise  Seneca,  "to  be 
possessed  of  but  few  of  the  lessons  of  wisdom,  but  to 
apply  these  diligently,  than  to  know  many  but  not 
to  have  them    at    hand."     Such    knowledge,    and 
such  alone,  is  power.     Truth  so  studied   cleaves 
to  the  memory,  quickens  the  intellect,   fires  the 
heart,  shapes  the  character,  and   transforms   the 
life. 

The  Two  Limitations. 

10.  Two   limitations    to   this   law  of   learning 
need  to  be  considered.     First.     That  of   the  age 


1 1 2  The  Seven  Laws  of  Teaching. 

and  powers  of  the  learner.  Each  of  the  five 
stages  may  be  climbed  by  the  youngest  as  well 
as  by  the  oldest  pupil,  but  on  a  path  answering 
to  the  pupil's  active  powers,  (i)  The  mental 
activity  of  young  children  lies  close  to  the  senses. 
Their  thinking  is  a  sort  of  mental  seeing.  It 
pictures  rather  than  thinks.  Their  knowledge 
of  a  lesson  will  be  confined  chiefly  to  the  facts 
in  it  which  appeal  to  the  eye,  or  which  can  be 
illustrated  to  the  senses.  Many  subjects  are,  of 
course,  beyond  their  comprehension,  but  in  the 
subjects  which  can  be  taught  to  them  at  all,  the 
expression,  the  meaning,  the  proofs,  and  the  uses 
can  be  shown  to  their  understanding.  (2)  From 
ten  to  fourteen  years  of  age,  the  imagination  is 
the  most  active  power,  and  the  lesson  will  be  best 
and  most  easily  learned  which  can  be  pictured 
to  the  fancy  or  turned  into  a  plan  for  some  active 
effort  or  enterprise.  (3)  Later  the  reason  begins 
to  assume  sway,  and  the  lesson  will  appeal  most 
to  the  mind  if  it  asks  reasons  and  gives  conclu- 
sions. Each  great  subject  of  human  knowledge 
will  be  found  to  have  these  three  stages  of  truth 
in  it,  and  to  offer,  therefore,  some  lessons  for  all 
ages  of  learners. 

Second.  The  other  limitation  is  that  which 
comes  from  the  kinds  of  knowledge.  Science, 
history,  art,  and  Scripture,  each  has  its  own 
evidences  and  its  own  uses  and  applications.  In 
each  case  the  law  of  learning  or  study  varies  to 


The  Law  of  the  Learning  Process.         113 

meet  conditions.  Let  the  intelligent  teacher  take 
a  simple  example  of  each  sort,  and  he  will  easily 
note  the  differences  and  find  the  true  conditions 
of  successful  study  of  each.  The  student  whose 
powers  or  methods  of  study  best  meet  the  condi- 
tions of  learning  in  any  branch  of  knowledge, 
easily  excels  in  that  branch.  Examples  are 
common. 

ii.  Hermann  Kriisi,  one  of  the  most  sagacious 
of  teachers  because  one  of  the  most  sympathetic 
students  of  childhood,  said :  "  Every  child  that 
I  have  ever  observed,  during  all  my  life,  has 
passed  through  certain  remarkable  questioning 
periods  which  seem  to  originate  from  his  inner 
being.  After  each  had  passed  through  the  early 
time  of  lisping  and  stammering,  into  that  of 
speaking,  and  had  come  to  the  questioning  period, 
he  repeated  at  every  new  phenomenon  the  ques- 
tion, 'What  is  that-?'  If  for  answer  he  received 
the  name  of  a  thing,  it  completely  satisfied  him ; 
he  wished  to  know  no  more.  After  a  number 
of  months,  a  second  state  made  its  appearance, 
in  which  the  child  followed  its  first  question  with 
a  second:  'What  is  there  in  it?'  After  some 
months  more,  there  came  of  itself  the  third  ques- 
tion :  '  Who  made  it  ? '  and  lastly,  the  fourth : 
'What  do  they  do  with  it  ?'  These  questions  had 
much  interest  for  me,  and  I  spent  much  reflection 
upon  them.  In  the  end  it  became  clear  to  me 
that  the  child  had  struck  out  the  right  method  for 


1 14  The  Seven  Laws  of  Teaching. 

developing  its  thinking  faculties.  In  the  first 
question,  '  What  is  that  ? '  he  was  trying  to  get 
a  consciousness  of  the  thing  lying  before  him. 
By  the  second,  '  What  is  there  in  it  ? '  he  was 
trying  to  perceive  and  understand  its  interior, 
and  its  general  and  special,  marks.  The  third, 
'  Who  made  it  ? '  pointed  toward  the  origin  and 
creation  of  the  thing ;  and  the  fourth,  '  What  do 
they  do  with  it  ? '  evidently  points  at  the  use  and 
design  of  the  thing.  Thus  this  series  of  questions 
seemed  to  me  to  include  in  itself  the  complete 
system  of  mental  training.  That  this  originated 
with  the  child  is  not  only  no  objection  to  it,  but 
is  a  strong  indication  that  the  laws  of  thought  are 
within  the  nature  of  the  child,  in  their  simplest 
and  most  ennobling  form."  Kriisi's  questions 
belong  chiefly  to  the  first  period  of  growth  and 
education.  In  the  second  and  third  periods  other 
questions  follow. 

Practical  Rules  for  Teachers  and  Learners. 

The  rules  which  follow  from  this  law  are  useful 
for  both  teacher  and  pupil. 

1.  Help  the  pupil  to  form  a  clear  idea  of  the 
work  to  be  done,  in  its  several  parts  and  stages. 

2.  Warn   him   that   the   words    of    his  lesson 
have  been  carefully  chosen  ;  that  they  may  have 
peculiar  meanings,  which  it  may  be  important  to 
find  out. 

3.  Show    him    that    there    are    always    more 
things  implied  than  are  said  in  any  lesson. 


The  Law  of  the  Learning  Process.          1 1 5 

4.  Ask  him  to  express,  in  simple  words  of  his 
own,  the   meaning   as  he  understands  it,  and  to 
persist  till  he  has  the  whole  thought. 

5.  Let   the   reason  why  be  perpetually  asked 
till  the  pupil  is  brought  to  feel  that  he  is  expected 
to  give  a  reason  for  his  opinions ;  but  let  him  also 
understand   clearly  that    reasons  must   vary  with 
the  nature  of  the  truth  taught. 

6.  Aim  to  make  the  pupil  an  independent  inves- 
tigator —  a  student  of  nature,  a  seeker  for  truth. 
Cultivate  in  him  a   fixed   and    constant    habit   of 
research. 

7.  Help  him  to  test  his  conceptions  to  see  that 
they  exactly  reproduce  the   truth    taught,    in   its 
widest  aspects  and  relations,  as  far  as  his  powers 
permit. 

8.  Inculcate  constantly  a  profound  regard  for 
TRUTH   as  something  noble,   enduring  and  divine 
—  something  that  God  loves  and  all  true  and  good 
men  revere. 

9.  Let  it  be  seen  and  felt  that  truth  in  facts, 
truth  in  feeling,  truth  in  words,  and  truth  in  action 
all  come  under  the  same  eternal  and  divine  law, 
and  that  the  honest  truth-seeker  will  seek  them  all 
alike  earnestly. 

10.  Teach    the    pupil    to   hate   all   falsehoods, 
sophistries,  and  shams  as  things  that  are  odious, 
hurtful,     dishonoring,      shameful,     cowardly,    and 
intensely  mean  and  wicked.     Make  him  to  dread 
a  false  answer  to  a  problem  as  a  lie  from  the  lips. 


Ii6  The  Seven  Laws  of  Teaching. 

Violations  and  Mistakes. 

The  violations  of  this  law  of  the  learning 
process  are  perhaps  among  the  most  common  and 
most  fatal  of  any  in  our  school  work.  Just 
because  this  work  of  learning  is  the  very  center 
of  the  school  work,  —  that  for  which  all  else  is 
undertaken,  —  therefore  a  failure  here  is  a  failure 
in  all.  Knowledge  may  be  placed  before  the 
minds  of  the  young  in  endless  profusion  and  in 
the  most  attractive  guise  ;  teachers  may  pour  out 
instruction  without  stint,  and  lessons  may  be 
learned  and  recited  under  all  the  pressure  of  the 
most  effective  discipline  and  of  the  strongest 
appeals  ;  but  if  this  law  is  disobeyed,  the  teaching 
is  fruitless  and  the  attainments  will  be  short-lived 
and  delusive.  Some  of  the  more  common  mis- 
takes are  these  :  — 

(1)  The  pupil  is  left  in  the  twilight  of  an  imper- 
fect and  fragmentary  knowledge  by  a  failure  to 
think  it  into  clearness.     The  haste  to  get  forward 
often  precludes  time  for  thinking. 

(2)  The  language  of  the  book  is  so  insisted  on 
that  the  pupil  is  forbidden  to  try  his  own  power  of 
expression.     Thus  the  student    is    taught  to   feel 
that  the  word  is  every  thing,  the  meaning  nothing. 
College   students   have  been  known  to  learn  the 
demonstrations  of  geometry  by  heart,  and  never 
to  suspect  any  meaning  in  them. 

(3)  The  failure  to  insist    upon     original   think- 
ing by  the  pupils   is  one   of    the   most   common 


The  Law  of  the  Learning  Process.          1 1 7 

faults  of  our  schools.     A  really  thoughtful  scholar 
is  the  rare  exception  in  most  schools. 

(4)  Commonly  no  reason  is  asked  for  the  state- 
ments in   the   lesson,   and  none   is   given.      The 
pupil  is  taught  to  believe  what  the  book  says,  and 
because  the  book  says  it.      Thus  the   reason   is 
dwarfed  by  disuse,   and   gives   no   help   in   study 
except  in  following  the  book.     Not  knowing  how 
to  prove  his  thought  true  when  it  is  true,  he  is 
unable  to  detect  its  falsehood  when  false. 

(5)  The  applications  of   knowledge  are  persist- 
ently neglected.     That  his  lesson  has  a  use,  and 
that  he  can  apply  it  to  some  practical  purpose,  is 
the   last   thought   to   enter   the   minds   of    many 
pupils.     The  examples  of  this  fault  are  too  many 
and  too  common  to  need  further  detail  here. 

Nowhere  are  these  faults  in  teaching  more  fre- 
quent or  more  serious  in  their  consequences  than 
in  the  Sunday-school.  "  Always  learning,  but 
never  able  to  come  to  a  knowledge  of  the  truth," 
tells  the  sad  story  of  many  a  Sunday-school  class. 
Let  that  class  be  taught  for  six  months  as  our  law 
prescribes  ;  let  the  pupils  penetrate  beyond  the 
letter  to  the  deep  meaning  of  the  texts ;  let  the 
splendid  truths  of  religion  in  all  their  breadth  of 
meaning  be  pondered,  proved,  and  applied,  and  its 
whole  character  would  be  changed.  Faith  would 
follow  hearing ;  frivolity  would  give  place  to 
the  deepest  earnestness,  and  the  truth  of  God 
would  vindicate  its  divine  origin  by  the  exhibition 
of  its  transforming  power. 


CHAPTER   VIII. 

THE    LAW    OF   REVIEW. 

I.  Let  us  suppose  the  ordinary  process  of 
teaching  to  be  finished.  The  teacher  and  pupil 
have  met  and  have  done  their  work  together. 
Language  freighted  with  ideas  and  aided  with 
illustrations  has  been  uttered  and  understood. 
Knowledge  with  its  treasures  of  truth  has  been 
thought  into  the  mind  of  the  learner,  and  it  lies 
there  in  greater  or  less  completeness,  to  feed 
thought,  to  guide  conduct,  and  to  form  character. 
What  more  is  needed  ?  The  teacher's  task  seems 
ended.  But  no !  The  most  delicate,  if  not  also 
the  most  difficult,  work  remains  to  be  accom- 
plished. All  that  has  been  done  lies  hidden  in 
the  learner's  mind,  and  lies  there  as  a  potency 
rather  than  a  possession.  What  eye  shall  pene- 
trate the  understanding  to  determine  the  clearness 
and  accuracy  of  the  pupil's  cognitions  ?  What 
hand  shall  nurse  into  larger  growth  and  into  per- 
manent force  the  ideas  he  has  been  led  to  conceive  ? 
What  process  shall  fix  into  active  habits  the 
thought-potencies  which  have  been  evolved  ?  It 
is  for  this  final  and  finishing  work  that  our  seventh 
and  last  law  provides.  This  Law  of  the  Test,  of 


The  Law  of  Review.  1 19 

the  confirmation  and  ripening  of  results,  may  be 
expressed  as  follows  :  — 

The  completion,  test,  and  confirmation  of  teaching 
must  be  made  by  reviews. 

2.  This  wording  of  the  law  seeks  to  include 
the  three  chief  aims   of  reviews  :   (i)  To  perfect 
knowledge.     (2)  To   confirm    knowledge.     (3)  To 
render  knowledge  ready  and  useful.     These  three 
aims,  though  distinct  in   idea,  are    so    connected 
in  fact  as  to  be  secured  by  the  same  process.     It 
would   be   difficult   to    overstate    the   value    and 
importance  of  this  law  of  reviews.     No  time  in 
teaching  is  spent  more  profitably  than  that  spent 
in  reviewing.     Other  things  being  equal,  he  is  the 
ablest  and  most   successful  teacher  who  secures 
from  his  pupils  the  most  frequent,  thorough,  and 
interesting  reviews. 

Philosophy  of  the  Law. 

3.  A  review  is  something  more  than  a  repeti- 
tion.    A  machine  may  repeat  a  process,  but  only 
an  intelligent  agent  can  review  it.     The  repetition 
done  by  a  machine  is   a   second   movement   pre- 
cisely like  the  first ;  a  repetition  by  the  mind  is 
the  re-thinking  of   a  thought.     It    is    necessarily 
a  review.     It  is  more :   it  involves  fresh    concep- 
tions and  new  associations,  and  brings  an  increase 
of  facility  and  power. 

4.  Reviews  are  of  different  grades  of  complete- 


I2O  The  Seven  Laws  of  Teaching. 

ness  and  thoroughness,  from  the  mere  repetition 
of  the  words  of  by-gone  lessons,  or  a  rapid  glance 
thrown  back  to  some  fact  or  phrase,  to  the  most 
careful  resurvey  of  the  whole  field,  — the  occupancy 
in  full  force  of  the  ground  of  which  the  first  study 
was  only  a  reconnoissance.  The  first  and  simplest 
reviews  are  mostly  repetitions  ;  the  final  and  com- 
plete reviews  should  be  thorough  re-studies  of  the 
lessons. 

5.  A   partial    review   may   embrace    a    single 
lesson,  or  it  may  include  a  single  branch  of  the 
subject,  —  the    development    of    a    single    truth, 
the  recall  of  some  one  fact  or  event,  or  of  some 
difficult  point  or  question.     The  complete  review 
may  be  a  cursory  reviewing  of  the  whole  field  in 
a  few  general  questions,  or  it  may  be  a  full  and 
final  reconsideration  of  the  whole  ground.     Each 
form  of  review  has  its  place  and  use.     The  value 
and  real    character  of   a  true   review  will   appear 
in  the  discussion.     We  shall  see  that  no  teaching 
can  be  complete  without  the  review,  made  either 
under   the   teacher's   direction,  or   voluntarily  by 
the  scholar  himself. 

6.  A  new  lesson  or  fresh  subject  never  reveals 
all  its  truth  on  a  first  study  of  it.     Its  novelties 
dazzle    the    mind    and     distract     the     attention. 
When   we  enter  a   strange   house,   we  know  not 
where   to    look   for   its    several   rooms,    and    the 
attention  is  drawn  to  a  few  of  the  more  singular 
and  conspicuous  features  of  furniture.     We  must 


The  Law  of  Review.  121 

return  again  and  again,  and  re-survey  the  scene 
with  eyes  grown  familiar  to  the  place  and  to  the 
light,  before  the  whole  plan  of  the  building  and 
the  uses  of  all  the  rooms  with  their  furniture  will 
stand  clearly  revealed.  So  one  must  return  again 
and  again  to  a  lesson  if  he  would  see  all  there 
is  in  it,  and  come  to  a  true  and  vivid  understanding 
of  its  meaning.  We  have  all  noticed  how  much 
we  find  that  is  new  and  interesting  in  reading 
again  some  old  and  familiar  volume. 

7.  Even  in  the  best  studied  book,  we  are  often 
surprised  to  find  fresh  truths  and  new  meanings 
in    passages  which  we   had   pondered   again   and 
again  without    seeing.     It   is   the   ripest    student 
of  Shakespeare  who  finds  most  of  freshness  in  the 
works  of  the  great  dramatist.     The  familiar  eye 
discovers  in  any  great  masterpiece  of  art  or  litera- 
ture touches  of  power  and  beauty  which  the  casual 
observer  can  not  see.     So  a   true   review  always 
adds  something  to  the  knowledge  of  the  student 
making  it.    The  practised  mind  finds  truths  which 
the  first  study  did  not  reveal. 

8.  Especially  is  this  true  of  the  Bible,  of  which 
the   last    study  is   always   the   richest   and   most 
interesting.     Nothing  more  surprises  or  delights 
us  in  the  great  preachers  than  the  new  meanings 
they  discover  in  old  and  familiar  texts  —  meanings 
which  we  are  obliged  to  confess  lie  clearly  there, 
but  which  our  careless  reading  had  prevented  us 
from    finding.      Sometimes    these    meanings    lie 


122  The  Seven  Laws  of  Teaching. 

hidden  in  a  word,  and  need  only  the  right  empha- 
sis to  reveal  them ;  sometimes  they  lie  close  by 
the  path  and  appear  by  some  sidelight  skillfully 
thrown  upon  them  from  the  text.  If  any  one 
wishes  to  try  this  for  himself,  let  him  take  some 
familiar  passage,  the  first  verse  of  the  Bible  for 
example,  and  recite  it,  first  in  the  rapid  and  care- 
less way  a  child  would  usually  say  it,  then  repeat 
it  several  times  slowly  and  solemnly,  with  varying 
emphasis,  and  with  all  the  thought  and  feeling 
he  can  summon;  somewhat  as  here  indicated:  — 

In  the  beginning  God  created  the  heaven  and  the  earth. 

Now  read  with  longer  pauses  and  deeper 
thinking :  — 

In  —  the  beginning  —  God  —  created  —  the  heaven  —  and 
—  the  earth. 

Then  more  slowly,  pausing  and  concentering  the 
whole  power  of  thought  on  the  words  marked  for 
emphasis  :  — 

In  the  BEGINNING  —  God  created  the  heaven  and  the 
earth. 

In  the  beginning  —  GOD  —  created  the  heaven  and  the 
earth. 

In  the  beginning — God  —  CREATED  —  the  heaven  and 
the  earth. 

In  the  beginning  God  created  —  the  HEAVEN  —  and  the 
EARTH. 

IN  — THE  BEGINNING— GOD  — CREATED  — THE 
HEAVEN  — AND  — THE  EARTH. 


The  Law  of  Review.  123 

What  a  world  of  meaning  at  last  rolls  along 
with  the  resounding  words !  How  wondrously 
in  that  remote  and  awful  beginning,  where  the 
Deity  stands  alone  with  his  eternal  wisdom, 
power,  and  glory,  the  peopled  heavens  and  the 
green  earth  move  forth  from  the  creating  hand 
of  God,  and  begin  the  long  march  of  geologic  and 
historic  time ! 

9.  On  one  occasion  at  least,  the  Great  Teacher 
himself  resorted  to  this  power  of  repetition,  when 
three  times  in  succession  he  asked  Peter  the  ques- 
tion :  "  Lovest  thou  me  ? "     The  heart  of  the  rock 
disciple  burned  as  with  fire  under  this  powerful 
iteration,  and  with  memory  and  conscience  quick- 
ened he  appealed  to  the  omniscience  of  his  Master 
to  witness  to  the  truth  of  his  questioned  love. 

10.  But  the  repetitions   of  a   review  are   not 
made  the  same  hour.     They  are  spread  over  days 
and  weeks,  and  hence  they  bring  a  new  element 
into  play.     The  lapse  of  time  changes  the  point 
of  view.     At  every  review  we  survey  the   lesson 
from  a  new  standpoint.     Its  facts  rise  in  a  new 
order  and  are  seen  in  new  relations.     Truths  that 
stood  in  the  shadow  in  the  first  study  come  forth 
into  the   light.     When    one   climbs   a   mountain, 
from  each  successive  opening  and  outlook  the  eye 
visits  again  the  same  landscape,  but  the  observer's 
position  is  always  changed.     The  features  of  the 
landscape  are  seen  in   different   perspective,  and 
each  successive  view  is  larger,  more  comprehen- 
sive, and  more  complete  than  its  predecessor. 


124  The  Seven  Laws  of  Teaching. 

11.  The   human   mind   does   not    achieve    its 
victories  by  a  single  effort.     There  is  a  sort  of 
mental  incubation  by  which  frequently,  from  some 
common  fact,  the  eagle  form  of   a   splendid   dis- 
covery springs   forth.     The   physiologists   call   it 
unconscious  cerebration,  by  which  they  mean  that 
the  brain  itself  goes  on  working  all  unknown  to 
us,  and  works  out  new  truths  from  the  facts  we 
have  learned.    It  is  an  easier  if  not  also  a  truer  expla- 
nation that  the  ever  advancing  and  growing  mind 
reaches  constantly  new  positions,  and  obtains  new 
light   by  which   the   new   truth   becomes  visible. 
Some   fresh   experience   or   newly   acquired   idea 
serves  as  a  key  to  the  old  lesson,  and  what  was 
dark  in  the  first  study  is  made  clear  and  bright 
in  the  review.     The  mind,  like  an  artist,  sketches 
its   pictures   at    first   simply   in    outline,    and    in 
detached  parts.     Only  after  many  returns  to  each 
part  do  its  conceptions    stand   forth   in   full   light 
and    shade,  perfect    paintings,  lifelike    and    com- 
plete. 

12.  The  old  saying,  "  Beware  of   the   man   of 
one  book,"  has  this  in  it,  that  his  repeated  readings 
of  his  one  book  give  him  a  mastery  of  the  subject 
which  makes  him  a  dangerous  antagonist  on  his 
chosen  field.     He  but  shows  the  power  conferred 
by  frequent  reviews. 

13.  The  memory,  too,  requires  frequent  repeti- 
tions as  the  essential    condition   of   its    retentive 
holding,    and   its   ready   recall    of    its    treasures. 


The  Law  of  Review.  125 

Memory  depends  wholly  on  the  association  of 
ideas,  —  the  idea  in  mind  recalling  the  ideas  with 
which  it  has  been  linked  by  some  past  association. 
Each  review  establishes  new  associations,  while 
it  familiarizes  and  strengthens  the  old.  The 
lesson  that  is  studied  but  once  is  learned  only 
to  be  forgotten.  That  which  is  thoroughly  and 
repeatedly  reviewed  is  woven  into  the  very  fabric 
of  our  thoughts,  and  becomes  a  part  of  our  perma- 
nent knowledge.  Not  what  a  pupil  has  once 
learned  and  recited,  but  "what  he  permanently 
remembers  is  the  true  measure  of  his  advance. 
One  fact  well  remembered  is  of  more  worth  than 
a  hundred  forgotten. 

14.  Not  merely  to  know,  but  to  have  knowledge 
for  use,  —  to  possess  it  fully,  like  coin  for   daily 
traffic,  or  like  tools  and  materials  for  daily  work, 
—  such  is  the  true  aim  of  study.     This  readiness 
of  knowledge  can  never  be  gained  by  a   single 
study.     Frequent  and  thorough  reviews  can  alone 
give  the  mind  this  firm  hold  and  free  handling 
of  the  truth.     There  is  a  skill  in  scholarship  as 
well  as  in  handicrafts,  and  this  skill  in  both  cases 
depends   upon  habits  ;  and  habit  is   the   child  of 
repetition. 

15.  The  plastic  power  of  truth  in  shaping  con- 
duct and  moulding  character  belongs  only  to  the 
truths  which  have  become  familiar  by  repetitions. 
Not  the  scamper  of   a  passing  child  but  the  re- 
peated tread  of  going  and  coming  feet  beats  for 


126  The  Seven  Laws  of  Teaching. 

us  the  paths  of  our  daily  life.  If  we  would  have 
any  great  truth  sustain  and  control  us,  we  must 
return  to  it  so  often  that  it  will  at  last  rise  up  in 
mind  as  a  dictate  of  conscience,  and  pour  its 
steady  light  upon  every  act  and  purpose  with 
which  it  is  concerned. 

1 6.  The  well-known  influence  of  maxims  and 
proverbs    comes   from    the   readiness  with   which 
they  are  remembered  and  recalled,  and  the  power 
they  gather  by  repetition.     So  the  texts  of  Scrip- 
ture which  most  influence  us  are  those  that  have 
become  familiar  by  use,  and  which  arise  in  mind 
as  occasions  demand.     Thousands  have  been  con- 
verted by  the  well-remembered  text  on  whom  the 
sermon  made  no  impression.  • 

17.  From    all   this   it   will   be    seen    that    the 
review  is  not  simply  an  added  excellency  in  teach- 
ing which  may  be  dispensed  with  if  time  is  lacking, 
but  it  is  one  of  the  seven  essential  conditions  of 
all  true  teaching.     Not  to  review  is  to  leave  the 
work  half  done,  to  fade  out  with  the  passing  hour. 
The  law  of  review  rests  upon  the  universal  and 
unchangeable  laws  of  mind.     The  review  may  not 
always  be  made  formally  and  with  clear  design, 
but  no  successful  teaching  was  ever  done  in  which 
the  review  in  some  form,  either   by  direction  of 
the   teacher   or   by   the   private   impulse    of    the 
learner,  did  not  take  place  —  the  revisiting  and 
repetition  of  the  lesson  learned.     The  "  line  upon 
line  and  precept  upon  precept "  rule  of  the  Bible 
is  a  recognition  of  this  truth. 


The  Law  of  Review.  127 

1 8.  The  processes  of  review  must  necessarily 
vary  with  the  subject  of  study,  and  also  with  the 
age  and  advancement  of   the  pupils.     With  very 
young  pupils  the  review  can  be  little  more  than 
a    simple    repetition ;    with    older    students,    the 
review  will  be  a  thoughtful  re-study  of  the  ground 
to  gain  deeper  understanding. 

A  principle  in  mathematics  may  be  reviewed 
with  fresh  applications  and  problems.  A  scientific 
truth  may  be  fixed  by  the  study  or  analysis  of 
a  fresh  specimen,  or  by  additional  facts  proving 
the  same  truth.  A  chapter  in  history  may  be 
re-studied  with  fresh  questions  calling  for  a  fresh 
view,  or  by  comparing  it  with  the  fresh  statements 
of  another  author.  A  Scripture  truth  will  be 
reviewed  by  a  new  application  to  the  heart  and 
conscience  or  to  the  judgment  of  the  duties  and 
events  of  the  life. 

19.  In  the  Bible  more  than  in  any  other  book 
are  reviews  needful  and  valuable.     Not  only  does 
the  Bible  most  require  and  most  repay  repeated 
study,    but    most    of   all    ought    Bible    knowledge 
to  be  familiar  to  us,  if   it  be,  as  is  claimed,  the 
Word  of  God.     Its   great   truths   ought   to   dwell 
in  the  heart  and  in  the    conscience   as    a   divine 
presence ;    its   very   language   should   haunt    the 
memory  as  echoes  from  the  hills   of  heaven.     Its 
words  and  precepts  should  rest  clear  and  precise 
in  the  thoughts  as  the  dictates  of  duty  and  the 
prophecies  of  destiny.     Its  grand  and  divine  doc- 


128  The  Seven  Laws  of  Teaching. 

trines,  its  august  and  vital  precepts,  its  blessed 
promises,  its  sublime  histories,  and  still  sublimer 
prophecies,  ought  to  inhabit  the  mind  as  heavenly 
and  familiar  guests,  or  rather  as  divine  forces 
bearing  with  a  constant  and  moulding  pressure 
upon  all  the  acts  and  decisions  of  our  lives.  It 
is  that  part  of  the  Bible  which  thus  lives  within 
us,  not  the  great  volume  which  lies  upon  the  table 
or  shelf,  which  is  the  true  Word  of  God  to  us  — 
the  daily  bread  of  our  God-ward  life. 

20.  Any  exercise  may  serve  for  a  review  which 
recalls  the  truth  to  be  reviewed.  One  of  the  best 
and  most  practical  forms  of  review  is  the  calling 
up  of  any  fact  or  truth  learned  and  applying  it 
to  some  use.  Nothing  so  fixes  it  in  the  memory 
or  gives  such  a  grasp  of  it  to  the  understanding. 
Thus  the  multiplication  table  may  be  learned  by 
orderly  repetitions  of  its  successive  factors  and 
products,  but  its  frequent  review  and  use  in  daily 
computations  alone  give  us  that  perfect  mastery 
of  it  which  makes  it  come,  as  it  were,  without  call, 
and  serve  us  as  if  a  native  part  of  the  mind  itself. 
So  in  that  largest,  most  wonderful  because  most 
arbitrary,  and  yet  most  perfect,  acquisition  of  the 
human  mind, — the  thousands  of  wholly  artificial 
word-signs  and  idioms  of  the  mother-tongue,  — 
nothing  but  the  ceaseless  repetitions  and  reviews 
of  daily  use  could  so  bed  them  in  the  memory  and 
so  in-work  them  into  the  habitudes  of  the  mind 
that  they  come  with  the  ideas  they  symbolize  and 


The  Lazv  of  Review.  129 

keep  pace  with  the  swift  movements  of  thought 
itself,  as  if  a  natural  part  of  the  thinking  process. 

21.  The  ready  skill  of  artisans  and  professional 
men   in   recalling   instantaneously  the   principles 
and  processes  of   their  arts  or  professions  is  the 
product      of     the      innumerable     repetitions     of 
daily  practice.     This  kind  of  review  is  available 
in  all  cases  in  which  the  learner   can   be    called 
upon  to  apply  the  truths  learned  to  the   answer 
of   common  questions,  .the  solution   of   problems, 
the  conduct  of   any  process,  or  the   performance 
of  any  series  of   acts.     The   art    of   the   teacher, 
in  this  work,  lies  in  the  starting  of  questions  or 
finding  which  shall  require  the  use  of  the  knowl- 
edge he  wishes  to  have  reviewed. 

22.  The  use  of  the  pen  and  pencil  in  review 
work  ought  by  no  means  to  be  forgotten.     Next 
to  the  eye,  the  hand  is  the  born  teacher  of  the 
mind,  and  no  reviews  are  more  effective  than  those 
which  the  hand  helps.     Witness  the  power  of  the 
laboratory  work,  now  so  common  in  all  scientific 
study.     The   ingenious    teacher   will    easily   find 
handwork   for   pen    or   pencil    in    any   branch    of 
learning.     The  request   for   the   pupils    to   bring 
lists  of  persons,  objects,  places,  dates,  or  distances 
mentioned  in  the  lessons  gone   over,  for   tabular 
statements  of  facts  or  events,  for  maps,  plans,  or 
drawings  of  places  or  things,  or  for  short  written 
statements    or    answers,    will    set    a    review    in 
progress  of  no  mean  value. 


130  The  Seven  Laws  of  Teaching. 

23.  In  Bible  lessons  these  pen  and  pencil 
reviews  are  peculiarly  easy  and  valuable.  Its 
biographies,  histories,  and  geography,  —  its  doc- 
trines, promises,  precepts,  and  duties,  —  its  para- 
bles, miracles,  and  prophecies,  —  its  patriarchs, 
prophets,  priests,  judges,  kings,  apostles,  sinners, 
and  saints,  and  all  its  marvelous  classes  and  diver- 
sities of  texts,  give  endless  fields  of  useful  work 
for  the  writing  hands. 

Practical  Rules  for  Teachers. 

Among  the  many  practical  rules  and  methods 
for  reviews,  the  following  are  some  of  the  most 
useful : — 

1.  Count  reviews  as  always  in  order.     When- 
ever  a   spare    moment    occurs    while  waiting   for 
other  exercises,  or  when  the  teacher  or  class    is 
unprepared   to   do   anything   else,  a   review   may 
go  on. 

2.  Have  also  set  times   for   reviews.     At   the 
opening  of  each  lesson-hour  take  a  brief  review 
of  the  preceding  lesson,  to  put  the  two    lessons 
in  connection  that    no    break    may  occur   in   the 
work. 

3.  At  the  close  of  each  lesson  give  a  glance 
backward  to  the  ground  gone  over,  and  note  the 
points  to  be  especially  remembered. 

4.  After  five  or  six  lessons  are  past,  start  a 
review  from  the  beginning,  taking  the  substance 
of  two  or  three  lessons  each  day.     The  order  of 


The  Law  of  Review.  131 

an  exercise  may  be  as  follows  :  First >  a  brief  review 
of  the  first  two  lessons,  to  be  followed  the  next 
day  by  the  second  two,  and  so  on  ;  second,  a  more 
careful  review  of  the  last  preceding  lesson ;  third, 
the  advance  lesson  of  the  day.  All  this  must, 
of  course,  be  adapted  to  the  time  given  to  the 
class  work.  If  that  is  short,  the  reviews  must  also 
be  brief.  The  best  teachers  give  about  one  third 
of  each  lesson-hour  to  reviews.  Thus  they  make 
haste  slowly  but  surely. 

5.  Whenever  a  reference  can  be  usefully  made 
to  former  lessons,  the  opportunity  should  be  seized 
to  bring  forward  into  fresh  light  and  new  connec- 
tions the  old  knowledge. 

6.  All  advance  lessons  may  be  made  to  bring 
into  review  truths    in   former    lessons,  since   the 
advance    in    some    way   depends    upon    the    be- 
ginnings. 

7.  Make  the  first  review  as  soon  as  practicable 
after  the  lesson  is  first  learned,  before  the  memory 
has  lost  its  hold.     Afterward   occasional  reviews 
will  suffice. 

8.  In  order  to  make  reviews  easily  and  rapidly, 
the   teacher   should   hold   in    mind   large   masses 
of  the  lessons  learned,  ready  for  instant  use.     He 
is  thus    able   to    begin    at   any  spare   minute   an 
impromptu    miscellaneous    review    on    any    part 
of    the    field ;    and   the   pupils,    seeing   that    the 
teacher  thinks  it  worth  while  to  remember  what 
they  have  studied,  will  be  ambitious  to  be  ready 
to  meet  his  questions. 


132  The  Seven  Laws  of  Teaching. 

9.  New  questions  started  on  old  lessons,  new 
illustrations  for  old  texts,  new  proofs  for  old  state- 
ments, will  often  send  the  pupil  back  with  fresh 
interest  to  look  again  into  the  old  lesson,  and  he 
will  be  thus  lured  into  an  unsuspected  review. 

10.  The   final    review,    never   to   be    omitted, 
should  be  searching,  comprehensive,  and  master- 
ful, grouping  all  parts  of  the  subject  learned  as 
on  a  map,  and   giving  the   pupil   the   feeling   of 
a  familiar  mastery  of  it  all. 

11.  Seek  as  many  applications  as   possible  of 
the  subject  studied.     Every  thoughtful  application 
involves  a  useful  and  effective  review. 

12.  Forget  not  the  value  of   pencil  and   pen 
work  in   reviews.     This  work   can   be   done   out 
of  class,  and  it  shows  for  itself. 

13.  An  interesting  form  of  review  is  to  allow 
members  of  the  class  to  ask  questions  on  previous 
lessons.     If  this  is  a  frequent  exercise,  the  pupils 
will  make  volunteer  studies  both  to  get  questions 
and  to  be  ready  with  answers. 

Violations  and  Mistakes. 

The  common  and  almost  constant  violations 
of  this  last  great  law  of  teaching  will  occur  to 
every  one  who  reads  the  foregoing  rules  and  state- 
ments. But  the  disastrous  results  of  these  viola- 
tions are  known  only  to  those  who  have  taken 
thoughtful  account  of  the  poor  and  stinted  out- 
come of  all  our  laborious  and  costly  teaching 


The  Law  of  Review.  133 

work.  When  for  the  time  our  pupils  should  have 
become  teachers  they  "  have  need  that  one  teach 
them  again."  Forever  learning,  they  seem  "never 
able  to  come  to  a  knowledge  of  the  truth."  And 
although  the  lack  of  reviews  is  not  the  sole  cause 
of  failures,  their  thorough  use  would  go  far  to 
remedy  the  evils  from  other  sources.  We  pour 
water  into  broken  cisterns  :  good  reviews  would 
stop  the  leaks,  though  they  might  not  increase 
at  once  the  quantity  poured  in. 

The  first  violation  of  the  law  is  the  total  neglect 
of  reviews.  This  is  the  folly  of  the  utterly  poor 
and  idle  teacher. 

Second  comes  the  wholly  inadequate  reviews. 
This  is  the  fault  of  the  hurried  and  impatient 
teacher,  who  is  more  anxious  to  get  through  the 
book  than  to  get  the  book  through  the  mind  of 
his  pupils. 

The  third  mistake  is  that  of  delaying  all  reviews 
till  the  end  of  the  quarter,  when,  the  lessons  being 
wholly  forgotten,  the  review  amounts  to  a  poor 
and  hurried  re-learning,  with  little  interest  and 
less  profit. 

The  fourth  blunder  is  that  of  degrading  the 
review  into  a  lifeless  repetition  of  the  same 
questions  and  answers  as  those  used  at  first.  This 
has  the  form  of  a  review  without  its  power. 

The  law  of  reviews  in  its  full  force  and  philoso- 
phy requires  that  there  shall  be  a  fresh  vision  — 
a  clear  re-thinking  of   the  truths    of   the   lesson, 


134  The  Seven  Laws  of  Teaching. 

which  shall  stand  related  to  the  first  study  as  the 
artist's  finishing-touches  stand  to  his  first  sketches; 
or  shall  be  as  the  final  trial  and  polishing  of  the 
weapons  with  which  the  pupil  is  sent  forth  to 
the  battles  of  life. 

Conclusion. 

I  have  now  finished  the  discussion  of  the  Seven 
Laws  of  Teaching.  If  I  have  succeeded  in  my 
purpose,  I  have  made  to  rise  up  and  pass  before 
the  reader,  first,  the  True  Teacher  richly  laden 
with  the  lesson  he  desires  to  communicate,  inspired 
and  inspiring  by  the  clear  vision  he  has  caught 
of  the  truth  ;  second,  the  True  Learner  with  atten- 
tion fixed  and  interest  excited,  eager  to  enter  and 
possess  the  promised  land  of  the  unknown  lying 
before  him  ;  third,  the  True  Medium  of  communi- 
cation between  these  two  —  a  language  clear, 
simple,  and  perfectly  understood  by  both  ;  fourth, 
the  True  Lesson  —  the  knowledge,  to  the  pupil 
the  unknown  standing  next  to  his  known,  and  half 
revealed  in  its  light.  These  four  —  the  actors  and 
machinery  of  the  drama  —  have  also  been  shown 
in  action,  giving,  fifth,  the  True  Teaching  Process, 
the  teacher  arousing  and  directing  the  self-activi- 
ties of  the  pupil,  like  a  chieftain  leading  his  soldiers 
into  battle ;  sixth,  the  True  Learning  Process,  the 
pupil  reproducing  in  thought  —  thinking  into 
his  own  mind,  step  by  step — first  in  mere  outline 
and  finally  in  full  and  finished  conception — the 


The  Law  of  Review.  135 

lesson  to  be  learned ;  and  seventh,  the  True  Reviews, 
testing,  correcting,  completing,  connecting,  and 
fixing  into  permanence,  power,  and  use  the  subject 
studied.  In  all  this  there  has  been  seen  only  the 
play  of  the  great  natural  laws  of  mind  and  of  truth 
effecting  and  governing  that  complex  process  by 
which  a  human  intelligence  gains  possession  of 
any  branch  of  knowledge.  The  study  of  these 
laws  may  not  make  of  every  reader  a  perfect 
teacher;  but  the  laws  themselves,  when  fully 
observed  in  use,  will  produce  their  effects  with 
the  same  certainty  that  the  chemic  laws  generate 
the  compounds  of  chemical  elements,  or  that  the 
laws  of  life  produce  the  growth  of  the  body. 


INDEX. 


Page 

Action,  Mental,  proportioned  to  feeling 35 

Appeals,  Basis  of n 

Gushing 12 

Appetites,  The  mental 38 

Attention,  Description  of 29 

Compelled  and  attracted 30 

Degrees  of 31 

Highest  grade  of       32 

Fresh,  how  aroused       37 

Because  of  duty 40 

Power  of,  increases  with  mental  development 41 

An  active  attitude  of  faculties 41 

Hindrances  to       42 

Rested  by  pleasing  variety 44 

Secured  by  pertinent  illustrations 44 

Secured  by  favorite  stories,  songs,  etc 44 

Secured  by  questions 44 

How  not  secured       45,  46 

Bible  truth  as  basis  of  appeal        n 

Child,  Small  vocabulary  of       50 

Must  be  understood       53 

Questionings  of 98 

Beginning  of  education 99 

What  is  required  from,  in  study 105 

Mental  activity  of 112 

Questioning  period  of 113 

How  to  develop  thinking  faculties  of 114 

Class,  helped  by  teacher       21 

Comenius,  saying  of 88 

Conclusion 134 

Earnestness,  Secret  of 21 

Education,  Two  great  coordinate  aims  of     .,..,,.,.  86 


138  Index. 

Enthusiasm,  kindled  by  skill 10 

Kindled  by  knowledge       20 

Secret  of 21 

Exhortations,  Earnest       n 

Explanations,  which  end  thinking 99 

Figures  of  speech  :  From  what  law  they  spring 72 

Idea,  New,  effect  of 37 

Ideas  incarnated  in  words 53 

Must  precede  words 54 

Illustration,  Power  of,  comes  through  knowledge       19 

Illustrations  from  nature 57 

From  what  borrowed 74 ' 

Infant,  the :  Interest  in  new  objects       89 

Intellect,  The  moral 92 

Its  fuller  sphere 93 

Interest,  Sources  of 35 

How  increased 35, 36,  39 

Varies  with  age 40 

Limited  by  knowledge       89 

Two  chief  springs  of 90 

Knowledge :  What  it  may  be 2 

How  taught 2 

Necessity  of 16 

Degrees  of 17 

The  teacher's  material       17 

Imperfect,  makes  imperfect  teaching 18 

Power  of  illustration  comes  from 19 

Full,  necessary  to  greatest  interest 19 

Pupils'  confidence  inspired  by 22 

How  communicated 33 

Is  truth  discovered  and  understood 67 

Not  a  mass  of  simple  facts 70 

By  comparing  and  judging 71 

Never  perfect 75 

Necessary  to  thought 89 

Love  of,  for  its  own  sake 90 

Appetite  for,  grows  by  feeding 91 

Love  of,  for  its  use 91 

Ready  for  use 125 

Known  and  unknown 67 

Kriisi,  Hermann,  saying  of       113 

Language,  Law  of 6, 48 


Index.  1 39 

Language,  Stated  as  a  rule       6 

The  law  of,  stated 49 

Philosophy  of  the 49 

Of  what  it  consists 48,  49 

The  vehicle  of  thought 51 

The  instrument  of  thought 53 

Expressing  original  thought        55 

The  storehouse  of  knowledge 55 

The  measure  of Jcnowledge 56 

By  signs 57 

An  imperfect  medium  of  thought       58 

Rules  for  teachers 59 

Violations  and  mistakes 60 

Misuse  of 61 

Complexity  of       62 

Lack  of  knowledge  of,  a  great  obstacle 63 

Takes  its  meanings  froin  old  knowledge 73 

Law,  The  teacher  subject  to 15 

Reign  of  universal 15 

Laws,  Discovery  of i 

Stated       5 

Stated  as  rules       6 

Learner,  The  law  of 5,  28 

Stated  as  a  rule 6 

Philosophy  of 32 

The  true       28 

A  rediscoverer       107 

How  must  mount m 

Rules  for 114 

Learning,  Law  of 6 

Stated  as  a  rule 7 

Pompous  pretence  of 27 

Its  one  essential  condition 28 

How  it  should  proceed 69 

Without  a  teacher 83 

Superficial  course  of 103 

What  is  not  true 106 

What  is  true 107 

How  it  comes 107 

Its  several  stages        107 

And  memorizing        108 

And  understanding       108 


140  Index. 

Learning,  And  mastery  of  thought 108 

And  testing  statements       109 

And  application  of  knowledge       109 

Learning  process,  The  law  of       105 

The  law  stated       106 

Philosophy  of  the  law 106 

The  two  limitations  of m 

Rules  for  teachers  and  learners 114 

Violations  and  mistakes 116 

Lecture  plan  :  When  justifiable 99 

Lesson,  Law  of 6,  65 

Stated  as  a  rule 7 

Philosophy  of  the  law  of 67 

Fresh  study  of       23 

Analogies  and  likenesses  in 23 

Natural  order  and  connection  of  its  facts  and  truths  ....  24 

Relations  to  lives  and  duties 24 

All  aids  to  be  used 24 

Time  for  study  of 24 

Plan  of  study  of 24 

Good  books  on 25 

Grafting  on        26 

Connection  with  the  learner       39 

Lessons,  Thoroughly  learned        in 

Maxims,  Influence  of       126 

Meanings,  New,  in  old  texts 121 

Memory :  Conditions  of  its  retentive  holding 124 

Dependence  on  association  of  ideas       125 

Mental  powers  :  Essential  condition  of  their  exercise 86 

Self-activities  of ,  87 

Processes  of  cognition  of       87 

Work  in  their  own  way 95 

Milton,  "  the  Mind  is  " 96 

Mind :  Its  laws  of  thought       I 

A  self-acting  power 34 

Reserve  powers  of 35 

How  controlled 36 

Sources  of  its  interest 39 

The  adult 40 

Action  of,  limited       89 

Does  its  own  work 96 

Autocracy  of    ,,,.,,,.,*........  96 


Index.  141 

Mind :  "  The  mind  is,"  etc.  (Milton) 96 

True  stimulant  of 98 

Does  not  achieve  victories  by  single  efforts 124 

Powers,  Unfettered  command  and  use  of 21 

Preparation,  Lack  of 26 

Pupil,  Confidence  of 22 

Ability  to  inspire 22 

Ignorance  of 26 

Must  think 33 

Resources  commanded 40 

Needs  of,  to  be  learned  from  his  words       53 

Taught  to  make  clear  statements 59,  62 

Seeming  attention  of 60,  61 

Stupidity  of,  explained       68 

The  self-acting  and  acted  on 88 

Too  much  help  for 96 

Philosophy  of 

The  law  of  the  teacher 16 

The  law  of  the  learner       32 

The  law  of  the  language 49 

The  law  of  the  lesson 67 

The  law  of  the  teaching  process 83 

The  law  of  the  learning  process 106 

The  law  of  review 119 

Questions,  that  startle       37 

Element  of  the  unexpected 38 

Sham 38 

As  excitants 98 

Review,  The  law  of 118 

Statement  of 119 

Philosophy  of 119 

Different  grades  of 119 

Partial 120 

Fresh  themes  discovered  by       121 

New  standpoint  of 123 

Establishes  new  associations 125 

Gives  the  mind  firm  hold       125 

And  essential  conditions  of  teaching 126 

Processes  of,  vary 127 

Needful  in  Bible  study       127 

Practical  forms  of 128 

Ready  skill  produced  by 129 


142  Index. 

Review,  Use  of  pen  and  pencil  in 129 

Practical  rules  for  teachers 130 

Violations  and  mistakes 132 

Scholar,  The  successful 28 

Senses,  Gateways  of 36 

Sentences,  Short  and  long 59 

Signs  as  a  medium  of  speech       57 

Skill  and  enthusiasm 9 

Spirit,  Scientific  :  What  it  is 99 

Success,  Secret  of 25 

Sunday-school,  The  power  of       94 

Study  of  the  lesson 24 

Time  for       24 

Temptation  to  neglect 26 

Not  the  pupil's  work  only       26 

Thoroughness  in,  relative       75 

Talking  is  thinking 54 

Teacher,  Law  of 5,  15 

Stated  as  a  rule 6 

Philosophy  of 16 

Qualifications  of 15 

Powers  of,  roused 21 

As  a  helper  of  the  class 21 

Confidence  of  pupil  in       22 

Loss  of  credit  of       26 

What  he  has  within  his  power 36 

The  too  talkative       58 

Necessity  of 84 

The  best       85 

The  true       88 

Mission  of 96 

The  Great 123 

Teachers,  Enthusiastic  versus  trained 10 

Rules  for  concerning 

The  law  of  the  teacher 23 

The  law  of  the  learner 43 

The  law  of  the  language 59 

The  law  of  the  lesson 76 

The  law  of  the  teaching  process       100 

The  law  of  the  learning  process       114 

The  law  of  review       130 

Enthusiastic  from  knowledge 20 


Index.  143 

A  word  to 12 

Teaching,  Fixed  natural  laws  of i 

Definition  of 2 

Seven  factors  of 3 

Analysis  of 3 

Law  of,  stated  as  a  rule 6 

Essentials  of  successful 7 

Real  complexity  of  laws  of 8 

Laws  obeyed  by  all  successful  teachers       9 

Aim  of  Sunday-school       n 

Systematic,  objection  to n 

Laws  of:  God's  own  laws  of  mind 12 

Highest  success  in 42 

Helping  the  child  to  expression 54 

Where  it  must  begin 67 

How  it  must  advance 68 

Forcing  process 86 

Teaching  process 81 

The  law  stated 82 

Philosophy  of 83 

Rules  for  teachers 100 

Violations  and  mistakes 102 

Test  and  proof,  Law  of 6 

Stated  as  a  rule 7 

Things,  The  language  of 57 

Thought,  New,  shock  of 37 

The  vehicle  of       .    . 51 

The  instrument  of 53 

Two  excitants  of 90 

Truth  understood  through  other  truths 18 

Necessity  of  understanding 20 

Mastered  through  expression 55 

Ideal  and  actual 66 

Imperfectly  known 74 

Truths,  Common,  transformed 21 

Unknown  taught  through  the  known 66 

Can  not  be  explained  through  the  unknown 72 

Violations  and  mistakes  :  — 

The  law  of  the  teacher 25 

The  law  of  the  learner 45 

The  law  of  the  language 60 

The  law  of  the  lesson 78 


144  Index. 

The  law  of  the  teaching  process 102 

The  law  of  the  learning  process 116 

The  law  of  review 132 

Words :  Small  number  in  child's  vocabulary 50 

Different  meanings  of 50, 51,  52 

Loved  or  hated  for  their  ideas 52 

Loaded  with  false  meanings       53 

As  clue  lines 56 

Group  or  family  of 56 

Not  the  only  medium  of  speech 57 

Unnecessary 59 

As  signs 73 


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